Former British prime minister Tony Blair left Egypt late Monday after meeting with officials to discuss regional issues including the Palestinian question, Al-Ahram's Arabic news website reported.

Blair arrived in Cairo Sunday following a visit to Tel Aviv.

The former prime minister then left late Monday to the Chinese capital Beijing, according to diplomatic sources, who accompanied him at the airport.

Before stepping down in May, Blair was the representative for eight years of the Quartet- an "informal diplomatic contact group" that consists of the US, the UN, the EU, and Russia and which aims to mediate Middle East peace talks and support Palestinian development.

The former PM last visited Egypt on 27 July where he met with Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab and Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry to discuss ways of moving forward with Palestinian-Israeli peace talks.

On 21 August, Khaled Meshaal, the exiled head of the Islamist movement Hamas which rules the Gaza Strip, said that "positive contacts" have been established towards securing a long-term truce with Israel.