His Majesty King Abdullah II on Saturday met German President Johannes Rau, who is taking part in the World Economic Forum extraordinary annual meeting currently held at the Dead Sea resort.



The King and President Rau discussed bilateral relations and the situation in the Palestinian areas where King Abdullah briefed the German President on the unceasing efforts to restart the peace process through implementing the road map which eventually leads to establishing an independent Palestinian State by 2005.



King Abdullah thanked President Rau for Germany's assistance to back economic and social development projects in Jordan.



The meeting was attended by Royal Court Minister Faisal El-Fayez, Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher and Advisor at the Royal Court Faruq Qasrawi.



King Abdullah had another meeting with Chairman of the Kuwait-based Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development Abdel Iatif Al Hamad.



Talks during the meeting, which was attended by Royal Court Minister Faisal El-Fayez and Planning Minister Basem Awadallah focused on the Fund's financing of some developmental projects in Jordan. Since 1975, the Fund has offered 327 million Kuwaiti dinars in loans to help finance projects in the fields of energy, transport, elecommunications, agriculture and rural development.



Besides, the Fund granted Jordan a total of 3.3 million Kuwaiti dinars to help develop institutional capacities of some projects in the Kingdom.



The King also met Director General of the Islamic Educational Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) Abdel Aziz Tweijri in presence of Royal Court Minister and Education Minister.



Talks during the meeting dealt with areas of educational and scientific cooperation between Jordan and the organization. King Abdullah urged the organization to establish a regional center for training on preserving and documenting archeological landmarks as well as a national center for information technology.



King Abdullah had another meeting with President of Malta Guido de Marco, who thanked the King for inviting him to the WEF meeting.



The two leaders discussed ways to develop political, economic and cultural cooperation between Jordan and Malta. President Marco said his country is close to the Arab region and there were serious efforts to strengthen cooperation between Jordan's Institute of Diplomacy and its Maltese counterpart.



King Abdullah and Queen Rania met Governor Milan Gabriel Albertini for talks on ways to strengthen cooperation between Jordan and Italy.



King Abdullah bestowed the Independence Medal of the First Order on Albertini in appreciation of the distinguished relations between Jordan and Italy.