Visit of President Sadat of Egypt White House Statement.

President Sadat and President Carter have completed 2 days of extensive talks in which they reviewed carefully and in depth a wide range of issues, including the Middle East, Southwest Asia, Africa, and the remaining issues in the current autonomy negotiations. The talks were held in the spirit of the close relationship which President Sadat and President Carter have developed along with Prime Minister Begin in working together to bring peace to the Middle East.

Both leaders reaffirmed their conviction that the Camp David agreement and the subsequent peace treaty between Egypt and Israel have produced the first tangible steps, after decades of conflict, toward achieving real peace in that troubled area of the world. President Carter praised the scrupulous implementation of the peace treaty, at times even ahead of schedule, noting that both President Sadat and Prime Minister Begin have proved to the world their dedication to sparing their people the agony of war.

In their discussions, the two Presidents asserted again their joint determination to pursue to successful conclusion, within the Camp David framework, the current autonomy negotiations as another step toward a comprehensive peace settlement in the Middle East. They focused on ways to accelerate the peace process and to resolve the remaining issues in the negotiations. President Carter plans to pursue these discussions in an equally thorough examination next week with Prime Minister Begin.

The two Presidents reaffirmed that the objective of the parties is to do everything possible to reach agreement by the May 26 goal set out in the agreement which President Sadat and Prime Minister Begin sent President Carter at the time they signed their peace treaty.

They were joined for their discussions on the Egyptian side by the Minister of Defense and War Production, General Kamal Hassan Ali; the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Butrus Butrus Ghali; the Ambassador to the United States, Dr. Ashraf Ghorbal; and First Under Secretary and Director of the Office of the Vice President, Dr. Usoma al-Baz. The American side was also represented by the Vice President; Secretary of State Cyrus Vance; the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski; the Personal Representative of the President, Ambassador Sol Linowitz; Ambassador to Egypt, Alfred Atherton; the Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, David Aaron; Assistant Secretary of State Harold Saunders; and National Security Council staff member, Robert Hunter.