Kerry meets Kamel Amr amid protests outside foreign ministry

John Kerry (L) says Egyptian politicians need to find common ground US Secretary of State John Kerry urged bickering Egyptian political leaders to forge a consensus to pave the way for aid that could help lift their country out of its deep economic crisis. "There must be a willingness on all sides to make meaningful compromises on the issues that matter most to the Egyptian people," Kerry told reporters after initial talks with Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr in Cairo.
Outside, a group of anti-government demonstrators set fire to pictures of Kerry, state news agency MENA reported.
Earlier, demonstrators had marched from Tahrir Square holding up cartoons of Kerry, portraying him with an Islamic beard, saying "Kerry - member of the Brotherhood." Others banners said "Kerry, you are not welcome here" and showed the characteristic moustache and fringe of Adolf Hitler superimposed on pictures of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi.
Kerry emphasised the importance of economic stability. "We do believe that in this moment of economic challenge that it is important for the Egyptian people to come together around the economic choices and to find some common ground in making those choices."
Kerry said he would discuss with President Morsi on Sunday ways in which the United States could help Egypt recover from its economic crisis.
"And I emphasise again, as strongly as I can, we're not here to interfere, I'm here to listen," Kerry said.
Meeting some of Egypt's business leaders, the US top diplomat stressed the importance of a $4.8 billion IMF loan, which is partly conditioned on a measure of agreement between the nation's divided factions.
"It is paramount, essential, urgent that the Egyptian economy gets stronger, that it gets back on its feet," he said. "It is clear to us that the IMF arrangement needs to be reached. So we need to give the marketplace the confidence."
Kerry said Washington was prepared to help Egypt, which has seen its foreign currency reserve slide to a critical level and the Egyptian pound lose around eight percent against the dollar.
He said US President Barack Obama would like to be engaged in supporting the country including through "economic assistance, support for private businesses, growing Egyptian exports to us."
On his first tour as secretary of state, Kerry met British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Francois Hollande and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan before coming to Cairo.
"All of them are prepared to be helpful but all of them believe that Egypt needs to make some fundamental economic choices," he said.
Earlier, Kerry began the Cairo leg of his tour by meeting Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi, before evening talks with Amr. "I make it particularly clear today on behalf of President Obama and the American people that we come here as friends for the Egyptian people, not for one government, or one person or one party or one ideology but for the Egyptian people," he said.
Kerry also met former Arab League chief Amr Mussa and spoke with Mohamed ElBaradei by telephone. ElBaradei and opposition figure Hamdeen Sabahi had refused to meet him in person, criticising Washington's proposal calling for their National Salvation Front coalition group to reconsider its boycott of elections that begin next month.
The president has called for staggered parliamentary elections to start on April 22.