Egypt's FM Fahmy meets Catherine Ashton

European Union Foreign Affairs chief Catherine Ashton who arrives here earlier Wednesday , first held talks with Egypt's Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy and declined to give any statements after the meeting. The foreign ministry said in a press release issued later that the meeting dealt with relations between Egypt and the European Union, especially with regards to aid and investment, and recommendations of the joint working groups between egypt and the EU held in Nov.2012 . The foreign ministry official spokesman Badr Abdul Atti said they also discussed the nile basin initiative and the developments of the ethiopian Al-Nahda or Renaissance dam and the need to reach a satisfactory settlement to the dispute. Other regional issues such as the Syrian crisis, Palestinian-Israeli talks , the Iranian nuclear program , the good preparations for the Geneva 2 conference , the palestinian -israeli negotiations and the need to stop the israeli settlement policies and its recurrent violations to the holy mosque in al quds were also taken up , said Badr Abdul Atti. Ashton is scheduled to meet later today with interim President Adly Mansour , army chief and Defense Minister General Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, and Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria. She is expected to meet as well with a number of political leaderships, including Muslims Brotherhood figures during her three-day visit in a bid to push for reconciliation with the transitional government. The visit is Ashton's third to Egypt since the June 30 protests, which preceded former President Mohamed Morsi's removal from power on July 3.