Agreement to confrontat terrorism; Moscow, Riyadh for implementing 'full' roadmap

Russia and Saudi Arabia called yesterday for full implementation of the pace plan "roadmap" describing it as the "only means to get out of the current crisis and reach a settlement that serves the interests of the Israeli and Palestinian peoples."

This was during the second day of the historical visit made by the Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz to Russia, where the two sides also agreed to form joint work groups to coordinate efforts of the two countries in the area of fighting terrorism.

In conclusion of a meeting held by the Russian foreign minister Igor Ivanonv with his Saudi counterpart Prince Saud al-Faisal, Ivanov said commenting on a statement made by the Palestinian President who said that the roadmap "is dead," that Russia supports strongly the implementation of the Roadmap.

For his part, al-Faisal called for the deployment of international forces to help in implementing the Roadmap. He said that the only solution is "the deployment of international forces in Israel. If the International community practices a more effective pressure on Israel, this will be the best means to end the conflict." Ivanov commented on that by saying that this proposal "is interesting and Russia is ready to study it if the two sides agree on that." He ruled out the possibility of imposing sanctions on Israel and indicated that the situation in the Middle East is very complicated and cannot be solved by sanctions."

On the other hand, Ivanov and al-Faisal announced the formation of "a joint work group to deal with a large number of issues in the conflict against international terrorism and coordinate our stances in this regard."

Crown Prince Abdullah met yesterday in Moscow with the President appointed by Moscow in Chechenea, Ahmad Qadrouf, who was among the Russian officials who received the Saudi delegation. He also met with the Russian prime minister Mikhael Kasyanov and other ministers.

The Saudi crown prince called on the Russian prime minister to visit Saudi Arabia, while Kasyanov said that political relations between the two countries "are successfully proceeding."

Following a meeting with his Russian counterpart Igore Yousovov, the Saudi oil minister Ali al-Nueimi said yesterday that the best price of one oil barrel ranges between 20 to 28 dollars, adding that the "world oil market is fairly balanced now and there are no reason for destabilization in the few coming months "