MOSCOW, April 8 (RIA Novosti) - The Middle East Quartet, comprising Russia, the EU, the UN and the U.S., will gather on April 17 in Amman, the capital of Jordan, a Russian Foreign Ministry representative said on Tuesday.
The quartet will "discuss plans for future action, including the organization of an international meeting on the Middle East and an upcoming ministerial meeting of the Quartet," Sergei Yakolev said, adding a date has yet to be scheduled.
"The agenda for the Moscow meeting will be discussed by the quartet and with representatives from regional powers, and when our partners are ready to adopt it we will announce the assembly of the conference," Yakovlev said, adding that the Amman meeting would be an informal discussion.
On April 17, PNA leader Mahmoud Abbas is expected in Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Among other issues, the forthcoming Moscow Middle East peace conference will be on the agenda.
Russian President Vladimir Putin first voiced the idea of holding a Moscow Mideast peace conference in 2005, which was supported by a number of Arab countries prior to talks at a U.S.-sponsored conference held last year in the U.S.
The Russian Foreign Minister said that the agenda for the Moscow meeting would focus on the same issues as the U.S.-sponsored conference and said that the U.S. supported the proposal.
"We assume that the new forum involving the Annapolis' participants and agenda will assist the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to support the appeals by the international community for a more progress in the peace process," Lavrov told the Ekho Moskvy radio station
In Early May, London will host talks on economic assistance to the PNA, similar to the international donors conference held on December 17 in Paris. Germany is looking at the possibility of holding a meeting to promote security in the Palestine territories, including re-opening checkpoints along Palestinian borders.
According to Lavrov, these events will lay the basis for the forthcoming Moscow meeting, which is expected to be held in the first half of 2008.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met on Monday in Jerusalem to discuss the peace process in their first meeting since a devastating Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip killed some 120 Palestinians, including many civilians, in late February.
Israel said the attack was in response to rocket attacks on Israeli border towns from Gaza. Abbas halted peace talks with Israel after the assault.
However, after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Jordan on March 30-31, the Palestinian leader announced that he would resume talks with Israel.
