Global perspective Human stories

In Rome, UN Middle East envoy meets with senior Israeli, Palestinian officials

In Rome, UN Middle East envoy meets with senior Israeli, Palestinian officials

Maintaining his contacts with key players on both sides of the conflict in the Middle East, the senior United Nations envoy to the Middle East has met in Rome with senior Israeli and Palestinian officials, a UN spokesman said today.

Maintaining his contacts with key players on both sides of the conflict in the Middle East, the senior United Nations envoy to the Middle East has met in Rome with senior Israeli and Palestinian officials, a UN spokesman said today.

Terje Roed Larsen, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, held separate meetings over the weekend with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Mohamed Rashid, President Yasser Arafat’s Senior Economic Advisor, spokesman Fred Eckhard told reporters in New York.

The meetings took place on the sidelines of an international conference on globalization called the First Global Forum, Mr. Eckhard said.

In other news, representatives of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and Japan to the Palestinian Authority inaugurated today a school, a municipal building and a wastewater pumping station in Gaza City.

Japan underwrote a $5.8 million assistance programme for the Gaza Strip, administered by the UN Development Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People, which financed the construction of the facilities as part of its wider efforts in the area.

The school will provide education for children between the ages of 3 and 12.

The Beit Lahia municipal building, a two-story structure, contains offices, meeting rooms and an assembly hall for municipal staff. The wastewater pumping station, which will serve 35,000 people in Beit Lahia, is expected to improve public health conditions in the municipality.