CAIRO, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit has ruled out a permanent U.S. presence on borders between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, the official MENA news agency reported on Friday.

    The United States would sell advanced technical equipment to Egypt to detect tunnels along the Egyptian-Gaza border, Abul Gheit was quoted as saying.

    However, the Egyptian foreign minister dismissed as groundless a permanent U.S. presence along the Egyptian-Gaza border area.

    "I could not imagine a permanent U.S. presence in the land adjacent to the Egyptian borderline, taking into account the U.S. participation in the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) in Sinai since 1981," Abul Gheit told media.

    The mission of the MFO, an independent international organization created by an agreement between Egypt and Israel, is to supervise the implementation of the security provision of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty and employ best efforts to prevent any violation of its terms.

    Commenting on the participation of Arab or NATO troops in maintaining peace in the West Bank in the coming transitional stage, Abul Gheit said it's too early to talk about such things.