The United States is supporting Egypt 's efforts to develop peaceful nuclear program, a senior U.S. official said in Cairo on Saturday.

"The U.S. is encouraging Egypt to go ahead in its peaceful nuclear program," Robert Joseph, visiting U.S. State Department Undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security, was quoted as saying in a statement after meeting Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit.

Joseph said that means of boosting bilateral cooperation in the peaceful nuclear energy and Egypt's plans on this score were high on the agenda of his talks with Abul Gheit.

The two senior officials also discussed challenges facing the efforts to prevent nuclear proliferation, focusing on nuclear files of Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, he added.

Joseph arrived here Friday on a two-day visit to Egypt, the last leg of his Arab tour.

In September 2006, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak declared that his country will continue its scientific research to develop peaceful nuclear technology.

Egypt started very limited nuclear technological research in 1957, but its nuclear program was frozen in 1986 after the accident at former Soviet Union's Chernobyl nuclear plant in the same year.

In 1968, Egypt signed the international nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and officially supports the elimination of nuclear weapons in the region.

Source: Xinhua