The head of the political arm of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood on Wednesday hailed US-Egyptian ties during talks with the US State Department's number two, but also said they must be "balanced." The meeting with US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns at the Cairo headquarters of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) came as marathon elections that propelled Islamists to Egypt's centre stage wrapped up.
Washington has reached out to the Brotherhood in a nod to the country's new political reality, with Islamists poised to dominate the first parliament since a popular uprising ousted veteran president Hosni Mubarak in February. FJP head Mohammed Mursi said his party "believes in the importance of US-Egyptian relations," but stressed that ties between the two nations "must be balanced," a statement issued after the talks said.
Mursi "welcomed" Burns's visit and "asked that the United States review its policies... in line with the (aspirations) of the Arab Spring" uprisings that brought down autocratic regimes in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia.
He also called on Washington to adopt a "positive position concerning Arab and Muslim causes," saying its policies in the past were "biased and not in its interest." According to the FJP statement Burns "congratulated the party on the results it achieved" in the parliamentary election, and said Washington was "ready to help the Egyptian economy to overcome the current crisis." The United States "respects the choice of the Egyptian people," it quoted Burns as saying.
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