CAIRO
European Union (E.U.) foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton met Thursday with Egypt's interim President Adly Mansour for talks on a number of bilateral and regional issues.
The meeting discussed Egypt's upcoming May 26-27 presidential election, a European diplomatic source told Anadolu Agency.
Ashton called for holding free and transparent elections and giving all candidates the chance to contest the polls, the source said.
Neither the Egyptian presidency nor the E.U. issued statements following the talks.
While in Cairo, Ashton held a closed-door meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss ongoing Palestinian-Israeli peace talks, the source said.
The talks hit a snag last month after Israel refused to release a fourth batch of Palestinian prisoners despite earlier pledges to do so.
In response, Abbas applied for Palestinian membership in several United Nations agencies and treaties.
Earlier Thursday, Ashton also met with Arab League Secretary-General Nabil al-Arabi and Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmi.
In a statement, Foreign Ministry spokesman Badr Abdel-Ati said talks between Fahmi and Ashton had focused on bilateral relations and Egypt-E.U. cooperation.
According to Abdel-Ati, Fahmi briefed Ashton on the implementation of a transitional roadmap imposed by the military following last summer's ouster of elected president Mohamed Morsi.
On May 26-27, Egyptians are set to elect a new president in the second phase of the roadmap, which should be completed later this year with the holding of parliamentary polls.
Thursday's talks between Ashton and Fahmi also tackled Palestinian-Israeli peace talks and Ethiopia's Nile mega-dam project, which Cairo fears will threaten its traditional share of Nile water, the ministry spokesman said.
The three-year Syrian conflict and the West's negotiations with Iran over the latter's nuclear program also figured high in the talks, the statement said.
Ashton arrived in Cairo on Wednesday for a two-day visit, her fourth to Egypt since Morsi's overthrow last July.
During a visit last summer, Ashton had met Morsi himself at an undisclosed location, where he had been taken in the wake of his ouster.
Europe's top diplomat had also met with a number of Egyptian political parties and groups – including Morsi's embattled Muslim Brotherhood – during previous visits.
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