Statement to the Press on the Occasion of President of the Republic of Austria Dr. Heinz Fischer's State Visit to Jordan

In the Name of God, the Most Merciful, the Compassionate,

Your Excellency,

It is a great pleasure to welcome you and your delegation here in Jordan. This is the second time that His Excellency the President and I have met this year, and we in Jordan are very proud of the strong friendship between Jordan and Austria. The Jordanian people look to Austria with great respect and appreciation, and I believe that this visit will do a lot to enhance our bilateral relations.

Our two countries enjoy excellent relations. Our talks today offered a valuable opportunity to discuss how we can further develop these ties in the economic field, in trade and investment, in energy, in education and more.

Our discussions also focused on developments in the Middle East, especially the peace process. We reiterated our resolve to reach a lasting peace, on the basis of a two-state solution.

It is urgent that the peace talks continue at this critical time. It is essential that we all work to create an environment for successful peace negotiations. All unilateral actions, especially settlement activities, must stop. Effective and tangible steps to end the suffering of the Palestinian people must be taken.

The President and I discussed the Arab Peace Initiative … which offers a tremendous opportunity to end decades of conflict. We also recognize the importance of the role of the European Union in its efforts to move the peace process forward.

And I hope later tonight we’ll discuss the issue of Iraq. And I hope that we will see more success in restoring stability through out the country. We believe that a stable, unified and prosperous Iraq is essential for the stability of the whole region.

We’ve had extremely fruitful discussions on many levels and I do believe that we will be able to advance our ties over the coming year.

And we welcome very much the role of the Austrian business delegation here in Jordan, and I am very optimistic about the synergies that will be identified between both the Jordanian and the Austrian business groups.

Your Excellency, again I welcome you to Jordan. I thank you very much for the very quick response that you gave us in coming to our country and that your excellent delegation has managed to accompany you. And we are very grateful for the opportunities that I believe both teams will be able to identify and build over the coming days.

Thank you very much, sir.