Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will meet on Wednesday with US Secretary of State Colin Powell over the volatile Mideast situation, Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said here on Sunday.

"The meeting is expected to cover the latest developments in the occupied Palestinian territories, the Iraqi file, the situation in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, and Egypt-US ties," he told reporters.

Leading Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram reported on Saturday that Powell was expected to discuss with the Egyptian leadership ways to reactivate the roadmap peace plan and how to promote bilateralties.

The roadmap, worked out by the international quartet, comprising the United Nations, the United States, Russia and the European Union, envisions a full Palestinian state by 2005. Powell is scheduled to arrive in Cairo on Tuesday as part of his regional tour, which will also take him to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Egypt, a heavyweight in the Arab world and a key peace broker between the Palestinians and Israel, has been working to find a wayout of the current stalemate of the peace process.

On Wednesday, Egypt called for empowering Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei over security services as a means to deal with unprecedented chaos in the Gaza Strip.

Source: Xinhua