Middle East: Ban Ki-moon welcomes US President’s proposal for international meeting

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed United States President George W. Bush’s proposal for an international meeting on the Middle East this autumn.

“The Secretary-General welcomes the statement made by US President George W. Bush on the Middle East peace process,” a spokesperson for Mr. Ban, who is scheduled to meet the President today in Washington, DC, said in a statement.

“He is encouraged by the President’s renewed commitment to a two-State solution, entailing the creation of a viable and contiguous Palestinian state living side-by-side with a secure Israel.”

The Secretary-General also welcomed the President’s proposal for an international meeting this autumn. “He looks forward to discussing these ideas with his partners in the Quartet in Lisbon on 19 July,” spokesperson Marie Okabe told reporters in New York. The diplomatic Quartet is comprised of the UN, US, European Union and the Russian Federation.