India supports Arab peace plan
By Aroonim Bhuyan, IANSSunday, February 28, 2010
RIYADH - India Sunday expressed “strong support” to a Saudi-proposed initiative aimed at ending the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The Indian decision was made known on the second day of Manmohan Singh’s visit to Saudi Arabia, the second by an Indian prime minister after 1982.
“We exchanged views on developments in the Middle East and on the status of the peace process in the Middle East,” Latha Reddy, Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs, said here Sunday.
She was briefing newsmen about the prime minister’s engagements with the Saudi leadership.
“Our prime minister reiterated our strong support for the Arab peace plan which we see as the way forward,” she said.
The Arab Peace Initiative was first proposed in 2002 by then Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and now King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz at the Beirut Summit of the Arab League.
It envisages normalising relations between the Arab world and Israel in exchange for a complete withdrawal from Israeli occupied territories and a solution to the Palestinian refugee issue based on UN resolution 194.
“We asked for the viewpoint of Saudi Arabia on the developments in their region,” Reddy said.
