Posted on 07/25/2002 9:57:04 AM PDT by Thinkin' Gal
AMMAN (JT) — His Majesty King Abdullah on Thursday will leave for Paris on the first leg of a four-country tour during which he will hold talks with Western and Arab leaders on means to end the suffering of the Palestinian people and advance efforts to put the peace process back on track.
The King will start his talks with French President Jacques Chirac in Paris before heading for Geneva where he will discuss with Saudi King Fahd Ben Abdul Aziz and UAE President Sheikh Zayed Ben Sultan Al Nahayan Arab and international efforts to put an immediate end to the tragic situation in Palestine. The two Arab leaders are currently on a visit to Switzerland.
His Majesty, who met Wednesday with Prime Minister Ali Abul Ragheb during a visit to the Prime Ministry, will then travel to London where he will meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair before heading for Washington for talks with US President George W. Bush.
During his stay in the US, King Abdullah is due to meet representatives of a number of major financial and economic institutions and IT firms. He is also scheduled to deliver a speech at a meeting organised by the US-based Fortune Magazine at the city of Aspen in Colorado. The audience will include a number of prominent American politicians and opinion leaders.
On July 11, the King spoke with President Bush over the phone and exchanged views on the proposals put forward to bring an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Marwan Muasher and his Egyptian and Saudi counterparts discussed the peace process with Bush last week after a meeting in New York with the international quartet on the Middle East, comprising the US, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia.
At the meeting with Abul Ragheb on Wednesday, His Majesty stressed his support for steps the government has taken to strengthen the national economy through development projects aimed also at improving the living standards for Jordanians.
The premier briefed the King on progress made in the Socio-Economic Reforms Programme and the outcome of the government's negotiations with Paris Club, which resulted in a rescheduling of part of the debts the Kingdom owes to the club's member states.
Minister of National Economy and Minister of State Mohammad Halaiqa said earlier in the week that the rescheduling secured Jordan with JD50 million to be spent on projects planned under the reforms programme.
Later at the Prime Ministry, King Abdullah chaired a meeting on the moves Jordan is taking to support the Palestinian people and help alleviate their suffering.
Present at the second meeting were the premier, Chief of the Royal Court Fayez Tarawneh, Minister of State for Political Affairs and Minister of Information and government spokesperson Mohammad Adwan, and Muasher.
The foreign minister told reporters after the meeting that the meeting also covered the King's European and US tour.
He said that Jordan appreciates the US and world commitment to the establishment of a Palestinian state in three years, adding that the next step is to detail a working plan that would lead to the end of the Israeli occupation and the creation of a Palestinian state.
The other message the King will convey to the Western and Arab leaders is on the need to end the tragic situation the Palestinian people are undergoing.
Muasher strongly condemned the deadly Israeli air strike on Gaza City, accusing Israel of dealing a blow to Arab and international peace efforts.
“We are still waiting for an Israeli partner who wants progress in the peace process not what happened the other night,” Muasher was quoted by Agence France-Presse as saying.
“The savage Israeli raid is totally unjustified and not only do we condemn it firmly but we also cast doubt over its timing because it came amid efforts to push forward the peace process and announce a ceasefire,” the top diplomat said.
“It is as if this raid came to say that Israel does not want these efforts and does not want the peace process to move forward,” he said.
Thursday, July 25, 2002
Are they meeting on the 9th floor of the hospital?
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