Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul-Gheit said Thursday that the “Conference of Middle East Peace” would take place in New York City in September.  The conference was first proposed by United States President George Bush in a Rose Garden address earlier in the week.

Aboul-Gheit said that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would participate in a July 31^st meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh, and would speak there with Arab leaders about the conference. 

A spokesman for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak released a statement on Thursday that contradicted Aboul-Gheit’s announcement.  According to Mubarak’s spokesman, the time and place of the conference have not yet been decided.