Jordanian kin worried about events in Syria

Jordan's King Abdullah II expressed on Tuesday his country's concern about the escalation of events in the Syrian arena, the increasing violence there and its impact on the countries of the region. King Abdullah re-confirmed during talks with the French President Francois Hollande at the Elysee Palace in Paris, that Jordan believes in the need to find a political solution to the Syrian crisis and to support the efforts of UN envoy Kofi Annan to find a solution to stop the shedding of innocent blood and to maintain the unity of Syria and its people, pointing out that the Syrian crisis requires Arab and international concerted efforts. A statement issued by the Jordanian Royal Court stated that bilateral talks between King Abdullah and Holland dealt with relations between the two countries, political developments in the Middle East, efforts to achieve peace and the latest developments in Syria. The Jordanian King congratulated President Holland on winning France’s presidential election, expressing his appreciation for France's continuous support to achieve development in Jordan and to implement major development projects and programmes in a number of vital sectors, especially energy, transport and water. He called for a just settlement for the Palestinian cause and to intensify efforts to help Palestinian-Israeli sides to return to direct negotiations to resolve all issues and to establish an independent Palestinian state living in peace and security alongside Israel, in accordance with the resolutions of international legitimacy. The Jordanian monarch and the French president reviewed the Arab spring developments and its impacts on the future of the region and the economic challenges and ways to deal with them, stressing the importance of benefiting from this spring to achieve positive outcomes for the peoples of the region. The King referred to the reform steps taken by Jordan to accelerate political, economic and social comprehensive reform which will enable the Jordanians to move to a new stage to continue the process of construction, modernisation and development, after the completion of the laws governing political life, especially the electoral law.  He asserted the countdown has already begun for the parliamentary elections in Jordan by the end of this year, according to the new election law that became effective since the beginning of this week, for the first time in the history of the kingdom. The elections will be under the supervision of an independent body for election, so as to transfer the reforms from the theoretical stage to the application stage.