JERUSALEM — Israeli President Shimon Peres was heading to Cairo on Sunday for talks with Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak on the prisoner issue, his spokeswoman said.

"Mr Peres is due to meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak one on one during the late morning in Cairo," Peres spokeswoman Ayelet Frish said. "He will return to Israel in the afternoon with an Israeli prisoner."

The two leaders will discuss "the 11,000 Palestinian men, women and children held in Israeli Jails," she said.

The two octogenarians are due to make a statement to the press after their meeting and will then have lunch with Egyptian government and security officials, she said.