The President of the Council of Europe (CoE) Parliamentary Assembly, Rene van der Linden, held talks in Amman Sunday with Jordan's King Abdullah II, who expressed appreciation for Europe's role in reinvigorating the Middle East peace process, DPA reported. "The monarch underlined the importance of the European support to US President George W Bush's call for an international conference later this year to discuss ways for spurring the peace process," a royal court statement said. King Abdullah also urged a continuation of European economic assistance to the Palestinian areas, saying "such aid has a positive impact on the living conditions of the Palestinian people," the statement added. During the meeting, Linden extended an invitation to King Abdullah to deliver a speech before the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, the statement said. Linden also held talks with Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit, who explained Jordan's stand toward the latest developments in the Palestinian Territories, Iraq and other parts of the region, an official statement said. Bakhit said that the Arab peace initiative provided a "real opportunity for achieving progress" in resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict. "The prime minister expressed the conviction that the United States, with the expansion of its experiment in the region, now realizes that finding a solution to the Palestinian question will prompt a retreat in other conflicts in the region, particularly the phenomenon of international terrorism," the statement said. Linden arrived in Amman earlier in the day in the course of a Middle East tour.
