The bulk of this interview was devoted to Israel-Egypt relations following Mr. Arens' meeting with President Mubarak and senior Egyptian officials. He was pleased with the meetings with Mr. Mubarak and Mr. Meguid, which also helped put the final touches on the resolution of the Taba issue. Israel would restore Taba to Egyptian sovereignty on 29 February. He said that following his talks with Foreign Minister Shevardnadze, Israeli and Soviet teams would exchange views, standpoints and evaluations. Text:
"I would first of all like to say that the most impressive part for me in the visit was the visit in Nubariya, where there I saw cooperation between Israelis and Egyptians in an important area: making the wilderness bloom on a very large scale. If we had a monopoly in Israel, then I think the Egyptians are taking the monopoly away from us. But, with Israeli technological assistance, with the assistance of Israeli specialists, one can see "beautiful Eretz Yisrael" in Egypt, along the Cairo-Alexandria highway. But, in addition to this, of course, I had the privilege of meeting with the Egyptian president. We sat for over an hour, just the two of us. I think that we established a personal relationship as well as a basis for understanding that I hope will bring about an agreement."
Q: As a result of your visit to Cairo do you have the impression that Israeli-Egyptian relations will be better in the future?
A: I think they will be better. We must insist upon it. It is not a simple matter, it is not easy. But I think they will be better. I see this in the fact that such a meeting could take place between an Israeli foreign minister and the Egyptian president, at a time when [President Mubarak] was quite busy prior to his trip to Tokyo today; he has already departed. We see in this a strengthening of relations.
Q: In Cairo, you also had a meeting with the Soviet foreign minister. This is rare.
A: Also, by the way, with the Egyptian foreign minister. I do not want this to be forgotten. And we invited the Egyptian foreign minister to Israel, and he is about to come to Israel. The director general of the Foreign Ministry is about to go to Cairo in order to meet with his counterpart in the [Egyptian] foreign ministry. And, of course, we had our meeting-with Shevardnadze this morning. We talked a long time - about two-and-a-half hours. We talked a lot.
Q: How would you describe Israel's present position vis-a-vis the Soviet Union?
A: I think that we are at the beginning -of the road to closing the gaps that evidently were created during the past 20 years, when there was no contact between Israel and [the Soviet Union]. There were no diplomatic relations. We could not talk. And now we have a lot to talk about.
Q: And there will be a continuation to this?
A: There will be. Yes.
Q: In what manner?
A: The Soviet foreign minister accepted my proposal for a meeting between Israeli specialists and Soviet specialists in the Middle East so that they may exchange views, standpoints, and evaluations. And also so that the talks between us will continue.