King Abdullah meets Clinton
Jordan-USA, Politics, 5/19/1999

King Abdullah of Jordan said yesterday that he is optimistic that Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak can help get the Middle East peace process moving, saying, "We had the opportunity of seeing him [Barak] in Jordan only several days ago and we see eye to eye on many issues and we're very optimistic of taking the peace process forward."

King Abdullah met yesterday with US President Bill Clinton, where they discussed "global, regional and other bilateral issues," a White House statement said. The statement reaffirmed US support for Jordan and said, "President Clinton and King Abdullah also agreed on the need for Iraq to comply with all United Nations Security Council Resolutions and pledged to do their utmost to get humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people."

A senior US administration official said the meeting between King Abdullah and Clinton lasted for 40 minutes, followed by a shorter meeting in which officials from both countries participated. The official said that King Abdullah expressed a desire to see the Middle East peace process move forward on all tracks.

President Clinton commented on the Middle East peace process, prior to his meeting with King Abdullah. He stated, "We have an accord at Wye to implement and we have a lot of work to do on the final status issues. I think the road map is out there." Clinton said that renewed US efforts on the peace process would begin after Ehud Barak forms his government, which the administration official said could take up to 45 days.

With the election of Barak, who has expressed his intent to move the peace process forward, the Middle East peace process is subject of a renewed focus.

The administration official said, "The first phase of Wye was implemented. So we can now go back to the agreement and pick up with the next phases. Once each side has fulfilled its obligations, then you could move to the next stage of Israeli withdrawal from territory, and then go into phase three."

On the Jordanian economy, President Clinton said, "I hope that Jordan can receive some relief on its debt problem from other countries. The United States has already done about all we can on that; we've done quite a bit. But I think other nations could do more to help Jordan." The US may approve $100 million in aid to Jordan this week.

Previous Stories:
  King Abdullah meets with Arab ambassadors accredited in Washington   (5/19/1999)
  Mordechai proposes a peace conference to King Abdullah   (5/18/1999)
  King Abdullah meets with Albright   (5/17/1999)

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