His Majesty King Abdullah II on Tuesday held intensive talks in Brussels focusing on ways to terminate the deteriorating situation in the Middle East and create the appropriate atmosphere to restart the peace process in the region. The talks also covered means to activate Euro-Jordan Association Agreement.

King Abdullah, who is currently on a visit to Belgium in the course of a European tour, met EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana where the two sides discussed international visions particularly those of Europe and the U.S. to end the cycle of violence and defuse tension in the Palestinian areas through convening an international meeting that brings together all the parties involved in the peace process.

During the meeting, which was attended by HRH Prince Hashem Bin Al Hussein, Royal Court Chief, Foreign Minister and Jordan's Ambassador, King Abdullah stressed that the projected international meeting should be based on the Security Council resolutions and the Arab peace initiative, which clearly stated the true Arab desire to achieve just and comprehensive peace that satisfies the needs of all parties.

King Abdullah believed that partial solutions have proved useless in light of the continuous whirl of violence and Israeli occupation of the Palestinian land. Any peace talks should tied with a well-defined time frame and should lead to a viable Palestinian state.

King Abdullah expressed cautious optimism on the possibility of reaching a final settlement to the tense situation in the region in the wake of continuous military escalation. However, King Abdullah hoped that the proposed meeting would serve as a cornerstone for a just solution to the Arab Israeli conflict.

For his part Solana highly appreciated King Abdullah's efforts and described his current European tour at this phase vital and importance. Europe, he stressed will pursue its efforts to put an end to violence in the region with the aim of re-starting the peace process. We shared King Abdullah his sound vision concerning the situation the Middle East and in the meantime we benefit from his wise policy, Solana said.

In another development, Their Majesties King Abdullah and Queen Rania, on Tuesday held talks with King Albert II and Queen Paula over a luncheon attended by Belgium Prime Minister. The two sides discussed bilateral relation and means of promoting them particularly in economic areas. The talks also covered Euro-Jordan Association Agreement and Belgium's contribution to Middle East peace.

King Abdullah, accompanied by Queen Rania, arrived in Brussels earlier on the day and visited the NATO Headquarters where he discussed with NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson the current situation in the middle East and cooperation between NATO and Jordan. The talks also covered international anti-terrorism campaign. Fighting terrorism can not be launched away from finding a just solution to the Palestinian issue and giving hope for a safe future to the Palestinians as well an supporting their demand to establish their independent state on their national soil.

Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher, who is accompanying King Abdullah on the visit, said the King's visit to Europe aims in the first place to address the European Parliament which is now assuming a leading role in decision making in Europe, therefore there is a need to expound the Arab and the Jordanian standpoint at this stage which is seeing preparations for re-launching the peace process , Muasher said in statement to Petra.

Economic relations with the EU are also important and Europe is the biggest trade partner to Jordan, he added. And because Jordan is indebted to many European countries it is necessary to talk to them about the economic situation in Jordan, Muasher said.

On Wednesday King Abdullah will deliver a keynote address before the EU Parliament outlining Arab peace vision and the main pillars of peace in the Middle East.

Jordan is the first Arab Mashreq country to conclude an association agreement with the EU. The agreement came into effect last may and Jordan is pending great hope on the agreement to increase trade volume with Europe.