US Secretary of State arrives in Cairo to start Mideast tour

CAIRO - US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived in Cairo on Sunday on the first leg of his Middle East tour that also incudes Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and Kuwait, Egypt's official MENA news agency reported.

Tillerson is scheduled to held talks with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry on Monday over enhancing U.S-Egyptian partnership and coordinating cooperation over in major Mideast issues.

The top US diplomat will also meet on Monday with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi who is expected to easily win a second presidential term in the 2018 elections, according to US reports.

Sisi faces no strong challengers in the 2018 presidential race scheduled for late March.

It is the second visit of a senior US official to the Middle East region, after US Vice President Mike Pence's Mideast tour in January, since US President Donald Trump recognized last December the debatable holy city of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel amid regional and international outcry.

Trump also voiced intention to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict has existed since the Western-backed creation of Israel and the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories in 1948.

The Palestinians seek to establish an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital in the light of the UN-proposed two-state solution based on the pre-1967 borders.