King Abdullah II Holds Talks With President Putin

Amman
09 July 2002

His Majesty King Abdullah II and Russian President Vladimir Putin Tuesday discussed the situation in the Middle East and mechanisms of developing bilateral relations between Jordan and Russia in political and economic fields.

During their meeting, attended by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Hamzah Bin Al-Hussein and Director of Public Intelligence and Advisor of His Majesty for Security Affairs General Saad Kheir and Jordanian ambassador to Russia, His Majesty and President Putin stressed the importance to move fast to end the tense situation in Palestinian territories, cease violence and to make efforts to resume the peace process a success.

President Putin expressed support to His Majesty concerning the importance to set a timetable for the coming peace negotiations and establishment of independent Palestinian state, where the two leaders reaffirmed the necessity to be based according to security Council resolutions 242 and 338.

His Majesty pointed out to the Russian role's importance in supporting the Arab, American and European moves in order to activate the peace process and bring the Palestinian and Israeli sides back to negotiations.

Talks between His Majesty King Abdullah II and President Putin, attended from the Russian side by Foreign Minister, Director of Intelligence and senior officials, in addition to President of Chechnya Qaderov, focused also on Iraq, where the two leaders expressed their hope of continued dialogue between Iraq and UN in order to solve all pending issues between the two sides. They stressed the two countries stand rejecting any strike against Iraq.

The talks focused also on bilateral relations and fields of joint cooperation between the two countries. His Majesty King Abdullah II and President Putin urged for working to intensify cooperation in economic and investment fields through enhancing the Jordanian and Russian private sector action and increasing trade and investment exchange.

The two countries are currently acting to approve a new agreement on economic cooperation and another one on preventing double taxation.

During the meeting, His Majesty was briefed by President Qaderov of Chechnya on the efforts exerted to fulfill peace and security and the return of evacuees.