Middle East: World leaders ended a special Middle East session of the World Economic Forum yesterday with calls to Palestinians and Israelis to work for peace and to Iraqis to rebuild their country, writes Michael Jansen
In his closing address to the gathering of 1,100 politicians, businessmen and journalists at a Dead Sea resort, the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, urged the international community to "keep the Palestinians and Israelis to their commitments" to the road map plan for a Palestinian state and for Iraq to become self-governing in 2003.
The host, Jordan's King Abdullah, said the "reconciliation summit" could provide a "new beginning for Palestinians, a new life for Israelis and a new future for Iraqi children" but warned that change would come only "if we confront old, accepted continuities" producing political authoritarianism, economic stagnation and violence.
The US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, continued to stress the importance of adhering to the road map and called for an end to the cycle of violence between Palestinians and Israelis. "There are those . . . who do not want to see progress towards peace," Mr Powell stated. "They will try to frustrate those efforts and blow up the road map. We cannot let a few individuals, and these really are just a few individuals, keep us from moving forward."
He also pushed for the adoption of the Bush administration's proposal for a regional free trade zone within a decade but was told by Arab figures that they could join only once there is peace with Israel.
The reconstruction of Iraq was also a central topic. Mr Paul Bremer, the US administrator, spoke of his plans for management of the oil sector and the privatisation of public firms but his comments were overshadowed by demands for more Iraqi involvement in reconstruction. The sole Iraqi politician attending was Dr Adnan Pachachi, a former foreign minister and head of a liberal democratic movement. He said the occupation should continue until a stable government is in place but stressed that Iraqis were impatient for this to happen.
Economists and businessmen expressed concern over the region's poor economic performance, declining exports and falling foreign investment in spite of the large amount of capital provided by oil revenues. This was the first World Economic Forum held in the region.