AMMAN, 11 June 2004 — Speaker of Jordan’s Lower House of Parliament Abdul Hadi Majali said yesterday that the parliamentary delegation he will be leading to Saudi Arabia today “carries a message of vigorous solidarity” with the Kingdom following the recent acts of terrorism that targeted the country. “We will relay a message of vigorous solidarity from King Abdallah and the people of Jordan to King Fahd, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, and Crown Prince Abdullah,” Majali said. “What has taken place in the sister Kingdom over the past months is nothing more than a vicious conspiracy that has the aim of misleading the people and undermining the country’s solidarity and stability, and has nothing to do with Islam,” he said.
Majali will be leading a 17-member Jordanian Parliamentary delegation that represents various blocs at the House of Representatives and includes two members of the Upper House, the Senate, parliamentary sources said.
“We are also going to thank the Saudi brethren for their continued assistance to Jordan,” he said, apparently alluding to the Kingdom’s recent decision to extend the duration of an oil grant of 50,000 barrels per day to Jordan.
He said that his talks with Speaker of the Shoura Council Saleh ibn Humaid would cover, among other things, the situation in Iraq in the wake of the UN Security Council’s unanimous adoption of a resolution on Tuesday for handover of sovereignty to the Iraqi people.
“We are pleased that the Council has adopted part of the recommendations sent by Speakers of the parliaments in countries surrounding Iraq to the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan during their Amman meeting last month,” Majali said. Heads of legislatures in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt, Bahrain, Iran and Turkey met in Amman in the second week of May and urged a “pivotal UN role in Iraq during the forthcoming interim period”.
“Our discussions in Saudi Arabia will focus on what joint steps we can take to help the Iraqi people,” Majali said. “We will also explain the difficult economic situation in Jordan and steps being taken by the government to make the country an attractive haven for foreign investments,” he added.
