His Majesty king Abdullah II affirmed the importance of the positive role shouldered by the European Union to support and establish peace in the Middle East.



During a series of meetings in the Irish capital Dublin, with the Irish President Mary McAleese, and Prime Minister Bertie Ahern in the presence of Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah, His Majesty affirmed the importance of an international move to salvage the peace process in the region and end the cycle of violence.



The King expressed hope that the European Union would use its influence to push the peace process forward especially the roadmap. "The Arab public opinion views the European role with interest, and it appreciates its quest to achieve a just solution for the Palestinian and Iraqi issues," he said, noting the historical and cultural ties as well as the joint interests between Europe and the Middle East.



During the meetings, which were attended by Minister of the Hashemite Royal Court Sameer Rifai, Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology and Minister of Administrative development, Dr. Fawaz Zu'bi, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Dr. Basim Awadallah, and a number of Irish officials, the two sides also discussed relations between Jordan and Ireland.



His Majesty reviewed during his meeting with the Irish prime minister, steps to sign a bilateral economic, scientific and cultural cooperation agreement, especially that Jordan and Ireland cooperate in the fields of information technology, telecommunications and transport.



Jordan and Ireland signed last year, during the international information community summit, which was held in Geneva, a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the information and telecommunications development field.



King Abdullah expressed appreciation for the EU's support to the development process in Jordan, stressing Jordan's keenness to enhance economic cooperation with the EU countries in the industrial, agricultural, scientific, technological and tourism fields.



The Jordanian-European Association Agreement, through which a free trade zone would be established in 2014, went into effect in 2002.



His Majesty voiced Jordan's readiness to provide all facilities to Irish companies willing to take part in the rebuilding process in Iraq through the establishment of joint projects with Jordanian companies.



The King extended an invitation to the Irish prime minister and officials to visit Jordan and take part in deliberations of the World Economic Forum which will be held on the Dead Sea shore on May 15.



The Irish Prime Minister for his part, expressed keenness to strengthen ties of cooperation between Jordan and Ireland on the one hand, and between Jordan and the EU on the other.
Ahern praised Jordan's position to support the current initiative on "Greater Europe", the goals of which include the expansion of partnership and horizons of cooperation between Jordan and the EU.



The Irish premier affirmed, during a lunch banquet, held in honour of His Majesty, that his country supports the roadmap designed to achieve peace in the Middle East and end the cycle of violence between the Palestinians and Israelis.



On Iraq, the King and Ahern stressed the importance of achieving peace through accelerating the process of constructing the Iraqi institutions, and giving the Iraqi more powers to enable them to manage their own affairs and build their future.



King Abdullah also met in Dublin with the Irish telecommunications minister and reviewed with him scopes of cooperation between the two countries in the fields of education and information technology.



The Irish minister expressed admiration of the initiatives taken by His Majesty to develop education in Jordan, and establish modern schools that fulfil Jordan's future aspirations.