German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder will head a delegation to the Gulf and Yemen, including Saudi Arabia, at the end of February. The delegation will discuss bilateral issues of interest as well as Germany's bid for a permanent seat on the Security Council. While in the Kingdom, Schroeder is expected to meet Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz, the Deputy Premier and Commander of the National Guard, according to a report published today by Arab News. The German ambassador to the Kingdom, Gerhard Enver Schroembgens, said Schroeder's visit would focus on matters of interest to both the Kingdom and Germany, such as terrorism, the Middle East peace process, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the situation in Iraq. He also said that Schroeder would bring up Germany's bid to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council. The idea behind this is to institute reforms which will make the organization more relevant to the modern world. Germany is one of the Group of Four nations which want to become permanent members of the Security Council. The others are India, Japan and Brazil.
