Meeting With Foreign Minister Ismail Fahmy of Egypt White House Statement Issued Following the Meeting Between the President and the Foreign Minister.

President Carter and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ismail Fahmy met in the Cabinet Room for 1 hour, 5 minutes. The meeting was also attended by Vice President Walter Mondale; Secretary of State Cyrus Vance; Zbigniew Brzezinski, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs; Hamilton Jordan, Assistant to the President; Robert Lipshutz, Counsel to the President; David Aaron, Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs; Alfred L. Atherton, Jr., Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs; Herman Eilts, U.S. Ambassador to Egypt; and William Quandt, National Security Council staff member, on the American side; and Ashraf Ghorbal, Egyptian Ambassador to the United States; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Under Secretary Osama al-Baz; First Secretary Dr. Mohammed Baradai, Executive Secretary of Foreign Minister's Cabinet; and Minister Counselor Mohammed Shaker, Egyptian Embassy, on the Egyptian side.

The President began by expressing his pleasure at welcoming Foreign Minister Fahmy to the White House in this latest round of his meetings with Middle Eastern foreign ministers. The President was gratified to receive a personal letter from President Sadat conveyed by the Foreign Minister. He repeated to the Foreign Minister his support for the key role Egypt continues to play in efforts to reach a negotiated peace settlement of the Middle East conflict. The President underlined his own conviction that a just and lasting peace in this vital area of the world requires compromise and courageous leadership from all the parties to the negotiations.

The President and Foreign Minister agreed on the importance of reconvening the Geneva conference by the end of this year, thus beginning the process of negotiations between the parties. To that end, they discussed the substantive issues of a settlement. Secretary Vance will pursue the discussion of these issues with the Foreign Minister, both to hear Egypt's concrete ideas on these issues and to explain some specific American suggestions on the elements of a peace treaty designed to help reconcile the differences between the parties. The President and the Foreign Minister also addressed the problem of Palestinian representation at Geneva, with a view to finding a solution during the course of these current talks the President and Secretary Vance are holding with Middle East foreign ministers.

The President reaffirmed the importance he attaches to U.S. relations with Egypt and continued American support for Egyptian economic development efforts. Finally, the President asked the Foreign Minister to convey to President Sadat assurances that the United States remains committed to the search for a comprehensive peace settlement in the Middle East.