Crown Prince Abdullah, Bush phone talks on Iraq, ME

The Saudi news agency said that Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz on Thursday held telephone talks with the US President George Bush on the post-Saddam Iraq and the Middle East peace process.

The agency said that the telephone call which was made by Bush dealt with "the latest developments in the region" on the ground of efforts made to re-establish normalcy in Iraq following the collapse of Saddam's regime, the Palestinian issue and the Middle East peace process."

This phone call between the Saudi crown prince who runs the affairs of the kingdom due to the deteriorated health condition of King Fahd and President Bush comes following the declaration by the US military this week to transfer the main headquarters of US air forces in the Gulf from Saudi Arabia to Qatar.