Egyptian-Jordanian higher committee meetings kick off
Egypt-Jordan, Politics, 6/5/2001

Meetings of the Egyptian-Jordanian Higher Committee started in Amman late Monday, co-chaired by Egyptian Prime Minister Atef Ebeid and his Jordanian counterpart Ali Abur Ragheb.

Addressing the inaugural session, Ebeid called for putting an immediate end to the Israeli acts of aggressions against the Palestinian people.

He called for a halt of the Israeli destruction of Palestinian infrastructure.

Ebeid called on Israel to resume negotiations from the point it had stopped at, and to get committed to international legitimacy resolutions.

"Despite the fact that Arabs seek peace, security and stability, the Palestinians are subjected to the worst Israeli threats under security pretexts", said Ebeid.

He called on world countries, especially the US to support efforts aiming at halting Israeli aggressions.

He welcomed Washington's acceptance of Mitchell's commission report that calls for halting Israeli hostilities against the Palestinian people and easing tension.

"President Hosni Mubarak and King Abdullah II have been supporting Arab rights, "said Ebeid. He pointed out that Egypt and Jordan share identical viewpoints on various issues.

Ebeid confirmed Egypt's determination to boost Egyptian -Jordanian ties and voiced his country's appreciation to Jordanian efforts for closing Arab ranks and maintaining pan-Arab solidarity.

"Egyptian budget deficit and inflation rate would go down and a real economic growth, about 5.5 per cent would be achieved," said Ebeid.

He added that the current year would witness a remarkable growth in the movement of Egyptian tourist activities.

"Egypt and Jordan have been adopting identical viewpoints sticking to free-market economy and the need to provide an investment-friendly atmosphere," Ebeid said.

Both countries had agreed to establish links as regards Ebeid projects such as the power grid and transporting Egypt's natural gas to Jordan to be folowed afterwords by Lebanon and Syria, he added.

Atef Ebeid hoped the natural gas project would have been accomplished by the time the next meeting convenes.

Ebeid called on Egyptian and Jordanian businessmen to set up their own joint ventures.

Ali Abur Raheb, on his part, said the Egyptian and Jordanian governments have been working on promoting ties upon directives from President Hosni Mubarak and king Abdullah II.

He added that both states have launched the Egyptian-Jordanian initiative in order to bring the Palestinian -Israeli negotiations back to track and restore Palestinian rights.

He lauded Egypt's leading role and its efforts for the establishment of a free-trade zone and voiced hope that the private sector would help promote the volume of Egyptian -Jordanian trade exchanges.

Abur Ragheb added that cooperation should be boosted in the field of transportation after the remarkable progress scored in the electricity and natural gas domains.

Ebeid arrived in Amman earlier this evening accompanied by a ministerial delegation including minister of tourism Mamdouh AL Beltagui, Minister of electricity Ali Al-Saedi, Minister of Transport Ibrahim Al-Demeiri and Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmi.

Abur Ragheb, other Jordanian senior officials and Egypt's ambassador to Jordan mohamed hegazi were at the reception of Ebeid at the airport.

Ebeid is scheduled to meet with king Abdullah II on Tuesday.

In statements after arrival in Amman Ebeid said that President Hosni Mubarak's and king Abdullah exerted intensive efforts during the past 24 hours with Arab leaders with the aim of prompting the world to put an end to tension in the region.

Ebeid said the Egyptian- Jordanian initiative is reasonable and balanced, pointing out that the security the Israeli people could only be achieved through peace.

He said that he carried a message from President Mubarak's to king Abdullah on bilateral relations between the two countries.

On his part, the Jordanian Prime Minister said in statements that there has been cooperation between the two countries in the fields of trade, joint investment, transport, tourism and culture in addition to linkage of infrastructure ventures, such as electricity and gas projects.

On the Egyptian- Jordanian cooperation to contain violence in the Middle East, the Jordanian Prime Minister said that the Egyptian Jordanian- initiative provided a good base for creating an appropriate atmosphere to return to the negotiation table.

He said the Egyptian -Jordanian initiative in addition to the Mitchell's report are the best means of reaching a just and comprehensive solution leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

The two sides will ink about eleven agreements on cooperation in economic fields in addition to protocols on technical cooperation today.

On his part, State Minister for Planning and International cooperation Ahmed Al-Darsh said that the committee agenda comprised significant topics that would enhance the bilateral distinguished relations.

The issue of enhancing the role played by the private sector in development and building, especially in establishing joint projects, would be highlighted during joint talks, he added in a speech delivered at the end of the preparatory committee-proceedings yesterday.

On Jordan's signing on the partnership agreement with the European Union (EU) and Egypt's would-be signing, Al-Darsh said that this imposes.

On US the responsibility of studying the new economic status and searching the best substitutes to derive more economic benefits.

On his part, Jordanian Minister of Trade and Industry Wasif Azir said that the orientation of the political leadership in the two countries towards establishing one Arab market and coordinating policies have been an example to be followed.

He pointed out that this would lead to developing the national economy and would coordinate policies with the international economic blocs.

Previous Stories:
  Mubarak, Jordanian monarch discuss joint peace efforts   (5/7/2001)
  Mubarak, Abdullah discuss Arab summit, Palestinian Issue, Iraq   (2/28/2001)
  Mubarak, Abdullah hold bilateral session of talks   (2/27/2001)

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