Today's Date:

Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson

Paris, April 22, 2003

Meeting between Mr. de Villepin and Turkish Prime Minister Mr. Erdogan (22/04/2003) © F. de la Mure/MAE

Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin is visiting Turkey, Jordan and Iran on April 23 and 24.
The visit is part of our regular consultations and cooperation with countries in the Arab world and Middle East. The minister met his counterparts from the Maghreb at Sainte-Maxime on April 9 and 10. He made a trip to Cairo, Damascus, Beirut and Riyadh from April 11-13. He will also be going to Israel and the Palestinian Territories. The dates for this visit, which has been agreed in principle, will be announced in a few days.

In the present regional context, the visit to Ankara, Amman and Teheran has several objectives:

- to listen to what Iraq's three neighbors have to say about the future of the country and the region in general. All three, bordering on Iraq, acted to prevent the situation from deteriorating;
- to demonstrate our commitment to the principles of international legality and collective responsibility and our resolve to take a pragmatic approach to the real problems faced on the ground;
- to reaffirm the urgency of relaunching the initiative on the Palestinian question with early publication of the roadmap;
- to maintain our political dialogue on international or bilateral issues.

The foreign minister is flying to Ankara today where he will have talks with Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan and his counterpart Foreign Minister Gul. Tomorrow morning the minister meets Mr. Dulger, chairman of the National Assembly foreign affairs committee, other political figures and members of civil society.
The minister goes to Jordan tomorrow, April 23, where he will be received by His Majesty King Abdullah Ibn Hussein and will have a meeting with his counterpart, Marwan Muasher.

He then meets with the French NGOs in Jordan that are providing humanitarian aid to the Iraq people.
The minister then goes to Teheran where he will be received by President Khatami on Thursday, April 24, and have meetings with Mr. Rafsandjani, Chairman of the Discernment Council of the regime's interests, and his counterpart Kamal Kharrazi.

Q - Is the minister going to discuss the Shiite movement in southern Iraq with the Iranians? And also regional stability?

Naturally he'll be discussing regional stability. He intends to talk about all the issues.

Q - After his trip, will the minister brief Colin Powell as he did after returning from Syria and Saudi Arabia?

At this stage, nothing has been formally arranged, but the two ministers usually talk. I wouldn't be surprised after this trip if he talks to his US counterpart, but I'm not aware a definite time has been set for this.
The minister will hold a press briefing at each leg of his trip.