The Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, is returning to the Middle East on his third regional tour, seeking to promote a solution to the serious crisis stemming from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This time, he will visit Jordan and Egypt, two countries bordering Israel and Palestine, and key to the ongoing negotiations for the release of hostages and ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
This sees Albares fulfil the commitment he made during his first tour of Lebanon and Iraq, at the end of January, to travel frequently to the region to seek solutions to the conflict. In just a month and a half, as well as the above-mentioned countries, the minister has visited Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, allowing him to discuss the situation with these three important Gulf players, to which he has now added Jordan and Egypt.
Amman, a strategic enclave in the region, will be the first stop on the third tour. Albares arrives in the Jordanian capital tomorrow, Tuesday 12 March, in the middle of Ramadan. He has been personally invited by his counterpart, Ayman Safadi, to an iftar, the dinner to break the fast after sunset, which symbolises deep friendship by sharing a table at a time of the day so important in the Islamic world.
This marks the starting point of an intense working schedule that continues the following day in Amman with high-level meetings, with the encounter with the Jordanian Minister for Foreign Affairs taking centre stage. In addition to the excellent state of bilateral relations, Albares and Safadi will have the opportunity to review the worrying regional situation. The Spanish minister and his Jordanian counterpart also plan to give details of the meeting at a press conference.
Visit to the refugee camp
Albares, taking advantage of his visit to the Jordanian capital to meet with Spanish aid workers in the country, will visit an UNRWA refugee camp in Jordan just a week after announcing to the UN agency's commissioner, Philippe Lazzarini, a further 20 million euros donation to enable the agency to continue its work to help the Palestinian population.
Egypt, as the focal point for negotiations and where some of the main actors with the capacity to solve the serious Israeli-Palestinian conflict are located, will be the second stop.
Following his visit to Amman, Albares will arrive in Cairo late in the afternoon on Wednesday 13 March, with plans to meet with the heads of UN agencies working in the nation, whose extraordinary work he would like to recognise.
The following day, he will meet his counterpart, Sameh Shoukry, to discuss the different solutions being considered to promote peace, and how the two countries can jointly contribute towards this goal. Albares and Shoukry will appear before the media following early morning political consultations between the two nations on Thursday 14 March.
Despite the limitations of a period like Ramadan, Minister Albares’ plans include being received at the highest level by the Egyptian authorities, and by the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, as well as representatives from this organisation, one of the first to adopt the Spanish proposal for an International Peace Conference, which up to 90 countries have now signed up for.
Albares plans to complete his day in Cairo with a meeting with Spanish media correspondents, to take stock of the tour, which will conclude after three busy days of work in Jordan and Egypt.