SHARM EL SHEIK (Egypt), May 20: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak opened the World Economic Forum in this booming Red Sea resort on Saturday with a surprisingly tough speech that signalled deepening strains in the once iron-clad links with his American allies and benefactors.

The 78-year-old Egyptian leader implied the United States was running a foreign policy that promoted double standards on nuclear issues, ignored international opposition to the invasion of Iraq and amounted to meddling in the internal affairs of countries _ like Egypt _ where Washington is pressing for Western-style democratic reforms.

And he used the biggest gathering of foreign officials and business leaders this country has ever seen to deliver that message to the Americans, who have counted on Mr Mubarak as an anchor for their policies in the Arab world.

President Mubarak, who has faced repeated US criticism in recent months for failing to follow through on promises of political reform, appears to have turned on the Bush administration on virtually every important Mideast policy issue with the exception of his efforts to mediate an Israeli-Palestinian peace.

“We shall never relax our efforts with either the Palestinians or Israelis in pushing them back toward the path of negotiations,” Mr Mubarak told the 1,300 assembled delegates to the first WEF on the Middle East to be held in Egypt.

As part of the 1979 Camp David peace accords Egypt signed with Israel, the United States agreed to send Cairo $3 billion in aid annually.

Gamal Mubarak, the president’s son and viewed by many as his heir-apparent, made a secret trip to Washington on May 12 for talks with President George Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

There has been no clear explanation from either side about why the younger Mubarak made the trip and why it was kept secret, until reported three days later by an Arab television correspondent who chanced to see Gamal Mubarak going into the White House.

Before the official opening of the annual conference on Mideast issues, Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif described the son’s journey an effort at smoothing out relations.

“When the man goes there as a member of the ruling party, he’s there in many cases either to start asking questions about US policies, what are their intentions, what are they doing especially about the Middle East and to explain what we’re doing in terms of reform politically and economically,” Mr Nazif said.

Given the pointed, if oblique, criticism he levelled at Washington on Saturday, the elder Mubarak apparently was not pleased with what his son reported back.

Mr Mubarak said he saw a double standard in the US nuclear policy, under which Washington maintains a resolute silence about the nuclear arsenal Israel is believed to possess while it conducts a campaign to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

He further challenged the Bush administration to work toward a world ‘that fosters multilateralism, abides by international legitimacy and steers away from unilateral actions’ — a clear reference to his and other Arab leaders’ distaste for the American invasion of Iraq.—AP