King Meets French Foreign Minister

Amman
23 April 2003

His Majesty King Abdullah II held talks on Wednesday with the French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepen that focused on the situation in Iraq and the importance of announcing the road map.

Both sides had identical views with regard to the future of Iraq and the need to form a national Iraqi government that includes all segments of the Iraqi people.

King Abdullah and De Villepen stressed the importance for he UN and the international community to shoulder their responsibilities towards assisting the Iraqi people to rebuild their country and guarantee sovereignty over the territories.

His Majesty affirmed the importance of exerting intensive efforts at this stage to relaunch the peace process, stressing that the implementation of the road map after the formation of a Palestinian government will enable the Palestinian and Israelis to return to the negotiating table.

The French minister for his part expressed his country's support to efforts being exerted to form a Palestinian government that would help in starting the implementation of the road map.