Middle East ‘Quartet’ Prepares For Meeting Next Week At UN
The top United Nations envoy for the Middle East peace process, Terje Roed-Larsen, joined his colleagues from the
European Union, Russian Federation and United States today in London to prepare for next week’s meeting of the so-called
Quartet, a UN spokesman said.
The Quartet is the sponsor of the Road Map peace plan, which calls for Israel and the Palestinians to take a series of
parallel and reciprocal steps leading to two states living side-by-side in peace by 2005.
Tuesday’s meeting will be hosted by Secretary-General Kofi Annan in his office at UN Headquarters in New York, Fred
Eckhard said at the daily briefing.
In addition to the Secretary-General, the attendees are expected to include US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Russian
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Foreign Minister Ryan Cowan of Ireland, which currently holds the EU’s rotating
presidency, EU High Representative Javier Solana and EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten.
The Secretary-General is expected to read out a statement on behalf of the Quartet at a press conference following the
meeting, according to Mr. Eckhard.