Federal Minister Steinmeier efforts supporting Middle East peace process – German Federal Foreign Office press release/Non-UN document

Steinmeier: Making the most of chances for peace in the Middle East

Mon, 07.05.2007

With a series of meetings in the region, Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has been demonstrating his continued tireless commitment to the Middle East peace process. He called on Israel and the Palestinians to make the most of the chances for peace in the region. He assured them that the European Union would do everything in its power to support the process.

At the weekend, the Federal Foreign Minister held talks in Ramallah and Bethlehem with the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Foreign Minister Siad Abu Amr. On Monday he met Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in Jerusalem.

During the meeting with Prime Minister Olmert, Steinmeier stressed that rapid, tangible improvements must be forthcoming for both sides: for the Israelis in terms of improved security and for the Palestinians in terms of better living conditions.

Foreign Minister Livni announced that she would be meeting representatives of the Arab League this week in Cairo to discuss its Middle East peace initiative. After his talks with Livni, Steinmeier underlined the fact that there is no alternative to peace efforts.

He invited Livni to attend the meeting of EU Foreign Ministers to be held in Luxembourg in June. This will give her the opportunity to present her position to the EU Foreign Ministers, he said, within the framework of an in-depth discussion.

EU aid for Palestinians to be continued

Steinmeier assured the Palestinian side that EU financial and political aid will be continued.

The EU Commission is currently negotiating the distribution of EU aid with the Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayyad. Steinmeier explained, "There are positive indications that we will manage to find a way to modify the financial flows such that they are available not only for poverty reduction, but also to jump start the urgently needed economic development".

Conferences, council meeting and many talks

The focus of the six-day trip of the Federal Foreign Minister was, in addition to the Middle East peace process and relations with the Gulf region, the situation in Iraq. Steinmeier's first stop was Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt, which has already hosted two international conferences on Iraq.

The Federal Foreign Minister used the opportunity to hold a number of informal talks, which returned time and time again to the most recent peace initiative of the Arab League, which has just revived its 2002 peace plan.

On Monday Steinmeier travelled on to Riyadh, in Saudi Arabia, where he attended the EU-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Joint Council and Ministerial Meeting. In its capacity as EU president, Germany co-chaired the meeting with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.