His Majesty King Abdullah II Holds Talks With President Putin

Amman
21 November 2001

Talks between His Majesty King Abdullah II and Russian President Vladimir Putin Wednesday focussed on reviving the peace process and the situation in Afghanistan, in addition to mechanisms of activating bilateral relations and developing joint cooperation between the two countries.

His Majesty stressed that Russia, side by side with US and Europe, play a vital role to end the circle of violence in the Palestinian territories prepare the proper ambience to put the peace process on its right track.

During their meeting today, King Abdullah II and President Putin affirmed that implementation of Mitchell recommendations and Tenet report form an important base for rebuilding confidence between the Palestinians and Israelis and to pave the way for the final status negotiations.

The two leaders stressed that the Security Council؟s resolutions 242 and 338 should form the fundamental terms of reference for the coming negotiations, whose inevitable outcome must be the establishment of independent Palestinian state.

Earlier in August this year, His Majesty King Abdullah II visited the Russian Federation, a visit described by Russian officials as a remarkable development in bilateral relations between the two countries.

During His Majesty؟s meeting with President Putin, which is a complementary to the recent visit in August, the two leaders discussed the practical steps to be taken to develop bilateral cooperation, particularly, in the military and economic fields. They stressed that the two countries؟ private sectors can largely contribute to the establishment of joint investment and in increasing trade exchange volume between the two countries , that does not, currently, exceed $ 40 million.

The talks between His Majesty King Abdullah II and President Putin touched on the Iraqi issue, where the two leaders stressed the necessity of working to lift the sanctions imposed on Iraq, as well as the necessity to start an Iraqi-UN dialogue as a step to end the pending issues with Iraq and put an end to the eleven years old suffering of the Iraqi people.

His Majesty and President Putin discussed the situation in Afghanistan and the international efforts exerted to combat terror, where the two countries announced support as well as rejection to the attempts aiming at branding Arabs and Moslems with terrorism.

The two leaders warned of the dangers on security and stability in the Middle East region by targeting Arab countries within the framework of combating terror.