AP , WASHINGTON
Thursday, Aug 20, 2009, Page 7

US President Barack Obama, right, meets with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
PHOTO: EPA
US President Barack Obama won lavish praise on Tuesday from his guest, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and spoke of an "extraordinary opportunity" for making peace in the Middle East.

Obama said he was encouraged by US efforts to restart talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Seated next to Mubarak, who was making his first visit to the US capital in five years, Obama thanked the Egyptian for joining him in trying to construct a deal that has eluded world leaders for more than six decades.

Returning the compliment, Mubarak asserted that Obama's speech to the world's Muslims, delivered in Cairo in June, had convinced Arabs that the US truly was an honest broker.

The 81-year-old Egyptian leader, who was estranged from the former Bush administration, said Obama had "removed all doubts about the United States and the Muslim world."