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Barak to meet Mubarak in Cairo on Sunday

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak will meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo on Sunday for talks on accelerating Israeli peace moves with the Palestinians and Syria.

Barak's office said in a statement that the summit meeting would prevent the Israeli leader from joining a world economic forum attended by U.S. President Bill Clinton and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in Davos, Switzerland. Israel and the Palestinians are struggling to meet a February 13 target date for a framework accord on a final peace. Israel's talks with Syria, relaunched in December after a 45-month break, have also hit an impasse.

Barak's statement, issued on Friday, said he and Mubarak would discuss speeding up negotiations with the Palestinians along with Mubarak's meetings with Arafat and Syrian President Hafez al-Assad in recent days.

"In light of the extensive diplomatic activity expected during the coming week, Prime Minister Ehud Barak decided not to travel to the conference in Davos," the statement said.

"Sunday afternoon Prime Minister Barak will meet President Mubarak in Cairo. The prime minister will set out at around mid-day and return that evening," it said. Israel's peace treaty with Egypt, signed in 1979, is its oldest with an Arab state.-Reuters