Italy"s Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has confirmed that the Arab Peace Initiative launched upon a proposal of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud at Beirut Arab summit 2002 is considered the regionally and internationally agreed-upon framework for reaching real peace and stability in the Middle East and all the area stretching from the Arab Gulf to Europe. In a speech at the headquarters of the Foreign Office in Rome to dedicate the Arab Gulf Days in Italy, Frattini said the European Union considers the GCC a strategic ally in the process of bringing about peace not only in the Middle East but also in Afghanistan and in tackling a number of files related to peace and sustainable development in addition to the issue of dialogue among followers of religions and civilizations. He said he felt during a tour of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia recently the deep significance of historical ideas presented by King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz aiming at inciting knowledge and promoting human resources in his country. On the Middle East peace process, the Italian senior diplomacy-maker said it is impossible to achieve a breakthrough in the situation in the Middle East without a prompt halt in the Israeli illegal settlement operations in the occupied territories. He explained that the European Union and Italy seriously work for the expansion of the regional cooperation mechanisms framework towards the region so that the Arab Gulf region constitute a new platform for the European overtures in the region. Italy"s Foreign Minister vowed that his country supports the call for making the region free of mass destruction weapons and for the right of all member countries to acquire nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Frattini said it is possible to forge a joint strategy to determine the priorities of security and draw a framework for peacekeeping and all the files that need a joint administration like piracy, environment and political violence. --SPA
