Berlin  - Germany and Egypt are to set up a steering committee to forge closer relations, the Foreign Ministry in Berlin said Tuesday, a day before the arrival of President Hosny Mubarak.

The move was agreed in talks Tuesday between German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Aboul-Gheit. The committee is to meet annually in Germany and Egypt alternately to identify ways of increasing cooperation.

Mubarak was in France on Tuesday and was set to meet German leaders on Wednesday. (dpa)