Jordan Times
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
King, Putin to discuss Mideast issues, enhance ties
Agencies
RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR Putin arrived Monday in Jordan on a two-day official
visit, during which he will hold talks with King Abdullah on regional issues and
bilateral relations.
The King, accompanied by senior officials, received Putin at the Queen Alia
International Airport, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
King Abdullah and the Russian president will discuss today at Basman Palace
means to enhance cooperation between the two countries in political, economic,
scientific, cultural and tourism fields.
Jordan and Russia will sign several agreements during Putin’s visit.
Talks between the two leaders will focus on Middle East developments,
particularly the Palestinian issues and efforts to revive the peace process as
well as Iraq.
Putin was expected to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Amman.
Russia, along with the United States, the United Nations and the European Union,
comprise the Quartet — which endorsed the roadmap to the Middle East peace
process, envisioning the creation of a Palestinian state.
Mideast tour
Putin's regional tour took him to Qatar Monday where he mooted the idea of a gas
version of oil cartel OPEC after having offered Saudi Arabia help to develop
atomic energy, according to Agence France-Presse.
In Doha, on the second leg of a Middle East tour aimed at boosting military and
energy ties, Putin hailed the controversial idea of a world gas supply syndicate
as "interesting".
"Who said that we rejected the idea of creating a gas cartel," Russia's Ria
Novosti agency quoted Putin as telling journalists. "We haven't rejected
anything. I said it was an interesting proposition.”
"Are we going to create this cartel, do we need it, that's another discussion,"
he added on his arrival in Qatar, which has the world's third largest gas
reserves after Russia and Iran.
"Some say that because we are gas producers we are obviously competitors. But
the professionals understand that markets in the gas sector are separate," he
said before heading for talks with Emir Sheikh Hamad Ben Khalifa Al Thani.
The Russian leader arrived from Riyadh where, on his first visit to the oil-rich
kingdom, he offered to help Saudi Arabia develop atomic energy and pledged to
develop ties with the Islamic world. His offer to key US ally Saudi Arabia
follows an announcement by oil-rich Gulf Arab states two months ago to pursue
nuclear energy technology.
Russia is also building a nuclear reactor in Iran amid an international standoff
with the West, which suspects the Islamic republic is seeking nuclear weapons, a
charge denied by Iran.
"Russia is determined to enhance cooperation with the Islamic world," Putin told
a forum of Saudi and Russian business leaders on the second day of his trip,
which has put the seal on improving ties between Moscow and Riyadh.
Saudi's King Abdullah on Sunday hailed him as "a statesman, a man of peace, a
man of justice".
Putin, whose country has been trying to restore its international clout, set the
stage for his three-nation Middle East tour with a scathing attack on
Washington's foreign policy, describing US dominance as "ruinous".
He told business leaders in Riyadh that Russia is a multiethnic, multireligious
country where Christians and Muslims coexist peacefully, and had long experience
in promoting cooperation between ethnic groups and religions.
"Russia is bent on pursuing this approach in all regions, including the Middle
East and the Arab Gulf," he said.
Putin's visit comes amid increasingly open Russian criticism of Western policy
towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with Moscow describing as
"counterproductive" the boycott of the elected Islamist-led Palestinian
government.