US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is to visit Egypt next week, as part of a broader international trip that begins in Paris for Syria talks on Friday, the State Department said, DPA reported.
Clinton will travel to Egypt on July 14-16, where she will meet senior officials, members of civil society and business leaders, and inaugurate the consulate in Alexandria.
The trip will "express the United States' support for Egypt's democratic transition and economic development," the department said Thursday.
Late last month, Egyptian sources said Clinton was expected to visit after new President Mohammed Morsi was sworn into office, to discuss economic assistance. At the time however, the State Department said she had no specific such plans.
The trip will make her the highest-ranking US official to visit Egypt since Morsi became president.
Clinton's trip begins with a meeting in Paris of the Friends of the Syrian People to discuss ways to pressure the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
She will continue on to Tokyo for the July 8 conference on the future of Afghanistan.
The trip also includes stops in Mongolia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Israel. Clinton will be the first US secretary of state to visit Laos in 57 years.
She is also due to meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in France, and will end her travels in Israel on July 16-17 for talks with leaders on Middle East peace efforts.