Cairo  - Egypt will not accept any conditions on US aid, the country's minister of international cooperation said in remarks published Thursday, after the US Senate approved cuts in economic assistance to Cairo.

In remarks published in the government-owned al-Gomhuriya newspaper, Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation Fayza Abul- Naga said Cairo rejected any conditions being placed on US assistance to Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country.

Abul-Naga was responding to news that the US Senate on Wednesday had voted to cut 200 million US dollars in economic assistance to Egypt. The US military aid package to Egypt for 2009 remained unchanged, at 1.3 billion dollars, al-Gomhuriya reported.

Abul-Naga said she hoped that US economic assistance would focus on building economic ties between the two countries.

In 2007, US congressmen David Obey and Tom Lantos succeeded in introducing language to the US aid package for Egypt that would have tied a portion of that aid to progress on increasing the independence of the judiciary, respect for human rights and progress in curtailing weapons smuggling into Gaza.

That language, however, allowed the administration to waive the requirements on the basis of "national security" - which is exactly what then-US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced at a March 2008 press conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul- Gheit in Cairo.

In 1998, Egypt and the United States agreed to a 10-year plan whereby US economic assistance to the country would gradually diminish with each year.

The United States has provided Egypt with more than 50 billion dollars in aid, mostly in military assistance, since the country signed a peace deal with Israel in 1979. (dpa)