RIYADH, 7 November 2003 — US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage will arrive here early next week to hold talks with Saudi officials about Iraq and the Middle East peace process.
Armitage will be accompanied by Assistant Secretary of State William Burns. The US officials will hold talks with Saudi officials on a range of bilateral, regional and international issues with special emphasis on the war on terrorism.
The US Embassy would not provide the exact date of the visit.
During their stay in the Kingdom, the US officials will talk about the plans to cooperate more closely in the war on terrorism. “It’s a chance to do some consultations on the full range of issues from Iraq to the Middle East peace process,” said a Reuters report quoting one US official who asked not to be named, adding Armitage was to leave Washington on Thursday and return early next week.
Armitage last week described the US-backed road map peace plan as “very rutted and bumpy,” an unusually blunt assessment of US peacemaking efforts in the Middle East, where more than 2,000 Palestinians and 800 Israelis have died in the last three years of conflict.
According to sources, Armitage and Burns are not scheduled to visit Israel or Palestinian territories during his trip, though they will travel to Egypt for discussions on the peace process.
