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DAMASCUS (AFP) - Syrian President Hafez al-Assad and Jordan's King Abdullah II agreed yesterday to step up consultations and coordination during talks on the troubled Middle East peace process and bilateral ties, officials said. The two leaders had private talks and an expanded meeting with members of their delegations at the People's Palace in Damascus for more than three hours and then Abdullah returned home. "Issues linked to the peace process, the latest developments and contacts taking place concerning it," were discussed during the private talks, Syrian presidential spokesman Jibran Kuriye said. The two leaders also reviewed the Arab situation as well as bilateral relations, he added without elaborating. Jordan's official Petra news agency monitored in Amman said Assad and Abdullah "stressed the need for consultations and coordination and the pursuit of meetings at the highest levels to discuss all bilateral issues between the two countries." The Damascus talks centered on bilateral cooperation in the fields of water, energy, transportation and the project to link the power grids of both countries - expected to be launched later this month - Petra said. On the peace front Abdullah renewed Jordan's "support for Syria's demand to recover the occupied Golan Heights in line with international law" as well as his country's backing for a total Israeli pullout from Lebanon. "His Majesty insisted that a comprehensive and lasting peace that guarantees security and stability to the people of the region is a peace that also restores the rights of all the people including the Palestinian people and their right to set up an independent state on their national soil," Petra said. Abdullah and Assad furthermore called for greater Arab solidarity and the need to support a united Arab position to confront the challenges facing the region, Petra added. Abdullah's visit to Damascus came some two weeks ahead of talks he is due to hold with U.S. President Bill Clinton in Washington and followed trips to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Chronically strained relations between Syria and Jordan have greatly improved since Abdullah ascended the throne in February 1999 following the death of his father King Hussein. And the young monarch has been credited with contributing to the revival of Syrian-Israeli peace talks in December 1999 after nearly four years of stagnation. However negotiations have been deadlocked since January. Jordanian Prime Minister Abdel-Rauf Rawabdeh told a Lebanese newspaper on Friday he expected Syrian-Israeli negotiations to resume "in June or July, because all sides are willing to work for peace." Senior Jordanian officials including Foreign Minister Abdel Ilah al-Khatib, Royal Cabinet Chief Fayez Tarawneh and intelligence chief General Samih Battikhi accompanied Abdullah to Damascus. The delegation sat in on an expanded meeting and attended a luncheon banquet offered by Assad who was assisted in the talks by Syrian Prime Minister Mustafa Mohammad Miro, Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara and Interior Minister Mohammad Harba. Meanwhile the respected Al-Rai newspaper in Amman said the visit was a "central point in Jordanian efforts spearheaded personally by His Majesty to pursue negotiations on the Syrian track." "The visit takes on special importance because the region... is entering a phase marked by dangers after Israel announced its intention to complete a military pullout from south Lebanon before July," it said. Israeli plans to end its 22-year-old occupation of a border strip in south Lebanon by July, even in the absence of a peace deal with Lebanon and Syria, the key power broker in Beirut, have triggered concern across the region. |
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