Egypt's Morsi pledges to respect pact with Israel

CAIRO — A participant in a meeting between Egypt's Islamist president and a large U.S. trade delegation says the Egyptian leader has reaffirmed pledges that he will respect his country's landmark peace treaty with Israel.

Mohammed Morsi also said Sunday during the hour-long meeting that he has instructed his Cabinet to fight corruption and reduce red tape to create a better environment for business and investment.

Since his election, Morsi has offered repeated assurances he would respect the 1979 treaty, apparently to remove any doubt in the Jewish state of his commitment to the historic accord. Morsi hails from the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group that has a decades-old enmity with Israel.

The participant spoke on condition of anonymity because Morsi's spokesman has not yet briefed the media on the meeting.