Middle East News
European Union envoy arrives in Beirut (Roundup)
Mar 16, 2010, 16:22 GMT
Beirut - Catherine Ashton, the European Union's top diplomat, arrived Tuesday in Beirut for talks with Lebanese officials which will focus on the Middle East peace process.
Ashton arrived at Beirut International Airport and headed directly for talks with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman.
She is scheduled to meet House Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Saad Hariri, later this evening.
Ashton said earlier in Damascus that the EU wants to push Syria and Israel to resume their indirect peace talks
She told a joint press conference with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem that resuming the Syrian-Israeli negotiations is 'extremely important' for the EU.
'The most important issue for the EU is to push the two sides to activate their talks,' she said. The settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict would open the way for other settlements in the region.
Negotiations reached a stalemate after the resignation of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Syria then withdrew from the talks in protest against the Israeli three-week offensive in the Gaza Strip.
This is Ashton's third stop in a tour that would take her to the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Israel and Jordan. Her trip comes in preparation for the talks in Moscow on March 19 of the so-called Mideast Quartet of the EU, United Nations, Russia and the US.
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