Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will on Monday take his first trip abroad since assuming office, traveling to Sharm e-Sheikh for a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak during which he is expected to discuss how he sees the regional challenges, and where he wants to take the diplomatic process, Jerusalem Post reported
The visit comes a week before Netanyahu is scheduled to travel to the US for his first meeting as prime minister with President Barack Obama.
According to government sources, Netanyahu will give Mubarak a preview of the diplomatic plan he will discuss with Obama.
Discussions were still under way with the Jordanians about the possibility of a meeting with King Abdullah II before Netanyahu went to Washington, officials in the Prime Minister's Office said.
It was "no accident" that Netanyahu's first trip was to Egypt, and that this was a "sign of the importance he attaches to the relationship with those Arab counties with whom Israel has peace, and was an indication of Jerusalem's desire to work more closely and in greater coordination with these countries," government sources said.
While Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who has good ties with the Egyptian government, will be accompanying Netanyahu, no official from the Foreign Ministry will be joining him on the trip.
Israel's ambassador to Egypt, Shlomo Cohen, however, is expected to be involved in the meetings.
Officials in both the Foreign Ministry and the Prime Minister's Office denied that the absence of a Foreign Ministry official on Netanyahu's plane had anything to do with Egyptian discomfort with Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, pointing out that there were times when Foreign Ministry officials did not accompany prime minister Ehud Olmert to Egypt as well.
The talks would deal with the whole range of pressing regional issues, from Iran to the Palestinian conciliation talks, to the fate of kidnapped soldier Gilad Schalit, government sources said.
"There is a unique opportunity for cooperation," one government source said. "Not only do we have common goals - regional stability and strengthening the peace process - but also we have common threats: Iran and its loyal proxies Hizbullah and Hamas."