Egypt's foreign minister declared in January 2005 that the country was fully aligned with its obligations to the International Atomic Energy Agency and expected the agency to issue Cairo a clean clearance in the near term.
The statement followed reports that UN inspectors were examining previously undisclosed nuclear activities, including a plutonium reprocessing laboratory assembled in the 1980s that Egyptian officials say was never put into operation.
Diplomats had raised concern that the lab suggested a potential route toward weapons development, should Cairo decide to pursue it.
The IAEA inquiry also covered experiments involving uranium metal production, which can yield weapons-grade plutonium, and the manufacture of uranium tetrafluoride, an early stage in uranium enrichment.
Egypt has been a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty since 1981, which obliges member states to disclose all nuclear-material activities to the agency. Foreign Minister Ahmed Abu Gheit said the two sides were exchanging questions and answers in line with those accords.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in January 2005, in its own words.