King Abdullah visits Gaza today

King Abdullah Bin Hussein arrived in Amman on Tuesday from Washington following a 17-day tour that included Germany, Britain, Canada and the US.

During his tour, the king succeeded, according to the Jordanian daily al-Rai in statements made by Prime Minister Abdul Raouf al-Rawabdeh, in getting promises of "chopping a part of Jordanian debts."

In his attempt to cancel 50% of Jordan's foreign debts, which are estimated at US $608 billion, the Jordanian king met last week with US President Bill Clinton who told the king he will ask the G-7 industrial states in the summit to be convened in Cologne, Germany to "cancel Jordan's debts or reschedule them."

Al-Rawabdeh stated that other goals of these Arab tours are opening markets for the Jordanian laborers who are facing unemployment, opening Arab markets to Jordanian products, trying to obtain deposits for the Jordanian central bank to strengthen Jordan's balance of foreign currencies, and floating up economic projects undertaken by the Jordanian government for development and attempting to get a financing for the .

Meanwhile, Palestinian officials in Gaza said that King Abdullah will visit today the Palestinian self-rule area in Gaza in order to hold talks with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.