Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak met on Saturday with visiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair on ways to revive the deadlocked Mideast peace process, the official MENA news agency reported.

Mubarak and Blair, who arrived in Egypt before noon from Turkey, held talks as Blair wanted to know Egypt's assessment and Mubarak's personal view of the current regional situation, such as the Palestinian problem, efforts to revive the peace process, the Lebanese political crisis, conditions in Iraq and Sudan's Darfur crisis.

The two leaders also discussed bilateral ties and means to promote them.

Earlier, Blair said that it would be critical to determine whether Israel and the Palestinians can break the cycle of violence in the next few days and weeks.

"If we don't get a new sense of urgency and momentum to the situation, it will continue to go backwards," Blair said in Ankara, the capital of Turkey.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on Saturday to hold early parliamentary and presidential elections in spite of opposition from the ruling Hamas movement, signaling escalating tension with Hamas, which rejected such a call immediately.

Blair's one-day visit to Egypt was hailed as a "turning point" for the region by former British Ambassador to Egypt Graham Hugh Boyce in a statement published by the Egyptian newspaper Akhbar el- Yom on Saturday.

The visit came within the context of a trilateral British- Egyptian-U.S. move to broaden Egypt's role in the region in line with a recent agreement between Blair and U.S. President George W. Bush, Boyce said.

Blair is expected to visit Israel, the Palestinian territories and the United Arab Emirates over the next few days.

Source: Xinhua