25 July, 2007… Assistant Foreign Minister for the Affairs of the Americas and the Organization of American states, Ambassador Hatem Seif El Nasr, received a delegation of senior staffers from the Committee on Appropriations at the US Congress. The delegation is currently visiting Egypt within the framework of a regional tour that will include Jordan and Turkey. After the meeting, Ambassador Seif El Nasr stated that his meetings with the US delegation tackled three major areas: the first is means of promoting Egyptian US relations in light of the positive results of the Egyptian Foreign Minister's visit to Washington at the beginning of July, particularly concerning the foreign aid programme at the US Congress. The discussions also dealt with the Middle East peace process, where the Egyptian stance regarding the recent Quartet statement, and the Egyptian efforts exerted in this regard were reviewed, including Minister Aboul Gheit's visit to Israel on the 25th of July to mobilize support for the Arab Peace Initiative. Ambassador Seif El Nasr concluded by stating that the meeting also shed light upon the Egyptian stance regarding the developments in Iraq, noting that the American side was keen on getting acquainted with the Egyptian viewpoint in this regard.