German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called on Egypt to keep in place its existing peace treaty with Israel, in an interview with the Mainz Allgemeine Zeitung, dpa reported.
"The peace that Egypt contractually agreed upon with Israel can not be called into question," she told the newspaper's Tuesday edition, the wake of the collapse of ex-president Hosny Mubarak's 30- year rule.
Street protests in Egypt last week led to Mubarak's resignation. Israel had watched the 18 days of protests closely, fearing that a sudden change of government could jeopardize the peace with Egypt.
Merkel described the 1979 treaty between the two nations as "a big historical credit for the Egyptian leadership."
The chancellor also used the occasion to call on Israel to conduct peace negotiations with the Palestinians "even if the situation currently still is unclear."
The Palestinian cabinet resigned on Monday, as the desire for change that swept Egypt - and Tunisia before it - percolated to the West Bank and Gaza.
Merkel said successful Middle East peace talks would be "a crucial building stone for a hopeful future in the region."