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Middle East Quartet meets in
Washington
Federal Minister Steinmeier leaves
today for Washington for a meeting of the so-called
Middle East Quartet (United Nations, European Union, USA
and Russia) there on Friday. As President of the
Council, Mr Steinmeier is representing the European
Union along with Javier Solana and Benita
Ferrero-Waldner. Condoleezza Rice, Sergei Lavrov and UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon will also be
participating.
The Quartet is meeting at Foreign Minister level for the
first time since 20 September 2006. Mr Steinmeier and Ms
Rice announced the meeting in Berlin on 18 January,
reiterating their desire to revive the Quartet. On that
occasion the German Foreign Minister summarized the aims
of the meeting thus: "It is a question of what political
prospects we can offer the people in the region." |