U.S. Middle East peace envoy William Burns met senior Russian, European Union and U.N. diplomats on Tuesday to review ways in a bid to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, officials said.
After meeting in London with the "quartet", an informal group trying to decrease tensions in the region, Burns, America's assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, is to travel to Paris for talks with the French. The other quartet envoys are Andrei Vdovin of Russia, Miguel Angel Moratinos of the EU and Terje Roed-Larsen, special representative of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
"They're reviewing steps to support and implement the president's (George W. Bush's) vision for progress on security, institution building and reform, economic reconstruction and the resumption of political dialogue," U.S. spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters in Washington.
Neither he nor British officials could give any update on the progress of the talks.
Boucher confirmed that following his Paris talks, Burns would return to the United States to brief Secretary of State Colin Powell without making a detour to Middle East. Powell is due to meet Per Stig Moeller, foreign minister of new EU president Denmark, in Washington on Wednesday, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair has defended a planned visit by junior Foreign Office minister Mike O'Brien to the Middle East for talks with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.
According to Blair Office’s statement, O'Brien was to hold talks with Arafat on Tuesday, reaffirming London's recognition of the Palestinian president despite U.S. calls for his removal from power.
A spokesman for Blair said O'Brien would meet Arafat at his West Bank headquarters in Ramallah. (Albawaba.com)
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