Jordan Times
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
King, Obama reaffirm Jordan-US
partnership, urge quick Mideast talks
Agencies
WASHINGTON - His Majesty King Abdullah and US President Barack Obama on Monday
reaffirmed the Jordanian-US partnership in talks that focused on means to
strengthen bilateral relations and cooperation in the areas of education,
science, culture and entrepreneurship.
The two leaders also discussed efforts to achieve comprehensive peace in the
Middle East between Israel and the Palestinians and Israel and all Arab
countries.
They exchanged ideas on ways to overcome obstacles impeding the resumption of
Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. They agreed that proximity talks should begin
quickly and transition to direct negotiations to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict on the basis of the two-state solution as soon as possible.
King and Obama also agreed that both sides should refrain from actions that
undermine trust during these talks. King Abdullah raised Jordan’s concerns about
Israeli unilateral actions in Jerusalem, stressing on the necessity of stopping
all such actions that seek to change facts on the ground.
King Abdullah and Obama also discussed Iran’s nuclear file. The US president
stressed the importance of international efforts to pressure Iran to ensure that
it upholds its international obligations, including through the imposition of
sanctions. King Abdullah stressed the need to resolve the issue through
diplomatic means.
Both leaders agreed on the importance of strengthening the nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty and holding all signatories accountable. King Abdullah
emphasised that transparency on nuclear programmes should apply to all
countries, reiterating Jordan’s position calling for a Middle East region free
from all weapons of mass destruction.
The two sides stressed on the importance of securing nuclear material to combat
terrorism and agreed to continue cooperation in the area of preventing and
detecting illicit trafficking.
King Abdullah and Obama also discussed the latest situation in Afghanistan and
ways through which Jordan could continue to contribute to international efforts
to help the Afghan people and improve conditions on the ground for them.
The recent elections in Iraq and the situation in Yemen, as well as the global
economic situation, were also discussed.
Nuclear summit
The talks took place on the sidelines of a 47-nation summit opened by Obama in
Washington yesterday with the stated aim of keeping nuclear weapons out of the
hands of terrorists.
Obama began the unprecedented two-day gathering with a series of meetings with
some of the world leaders gathered for the summit, one of the largest
international groupings ever staged by the United States, Reuters reported.
Obama will hold talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao that should go some way
towards determining whether China is prepared to join the United States,
Britain, France, Russia and Germany in a fourth round of UN sanctions against
Iran. Tehran says its nuclear programme is peaceful and it does not intend to
build a weapon.
Hu’s agreement to attend was perceived as a positive sign in Washington after
US-Chinese relations were strained by Obama’s meeting with the Dalai Lama,
China’s Internet censorship and US pressure over China’s currency.
Diplomats believe China might be willing to join the latest Iran sanctions push
but it was still unclear how far Beijing would go to penalise a country with
which it has significant economic ties.
In addition to King Abdullah, the US president was also meeting the leaders of
Malaysia, Ukraine and Armenia Monday inside Washington’s downtown convention
centre, which was surrounded by a heavy security cordon of troops and police and
high fences.
The summit is the culmination of a hectic period of nuclear diplomacy for Obama.
Last week he signed a new treaty to cut US and Russian nuclear arsenals and
unilaterally announced the United States would limit its use of nuclear weapons,
a plan that came under heavy fire from his conservative critics.
The summit - the largest US-hosted assembly of world leaders in six decades -
will be a test of Obama’s ability to rally global action on his nuclear agenda.
In a sign of progress on the issues, the foreign ministry in Moscow said Russia
and the United States would sign a deal Tuesday on reducing stocks of
weapons-grade plutonium.
Speaking on the eve of the conference, Obama said he expected it to yield
“enormous progress” towards the goal of locking down loose nuclear materials
worldwide.
“We know that organisations like Al Qaeda are in the process of trying to secure
a nuclear weapon, a weapon of mass destruction that they have no compunction at
using,” Obama told reporters, calling it the biggest threat to national
security.
A draft final communiqué shows leaders will pledge to work towards safeguarding
all “vulnerable nuclear material” within four years and take steps to crack down
on nuclear smuggling.
Iran and North Korea are not on the guest list or the summit agenda. But their
nuclear standoffs with the West were likely to weigh heavily in Obama’s talks
with Hu and other leaders like German Chancellor Angela Merkel. She will sit
down with the US president on Tuesday after the summit is over.
“I think time is pressing and a decision on potential sanctions will need to be
made soon,” Merkel, referring to Iran, said in Berlin before leaving for the
United States.
The list of leaders in attendance ranged from heads of state of traditional
nuclear powers like Russia and France to nuclear-armed foes like India and
neighbouring Pakistan.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani assured Obama in talks on Sunday his
government has “appropriate safeguards” for its nuclear arsenal. Experts say
Pakistan’s stockpile of weapons-grade material poses a high risk because of
internal security threats from the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
Missing will be Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who withdrew fearing
Muslim leaders would use the summit as a forum to demand Israel give up its
assumed nuclear arsenal.
During his visit to the US, which began Saturday, the King will also hold
several meetings with US political and economic figures, in addition to
participating in a debate on peace efforts in the region at the Chicago Council
on Global Affairs with the participation of 650 leading US and international
figures.