Blair Discusses Anti-Terror War With European LeadersBritish Prime Minister Tony Blair on Sunday evening is hosting a dinner for the leaders of Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium and Spain to discuss the current United States-led war on terrorism.Blair is expected to brief them on his latest round of Middle East shuttle diplomacy attempting to bolster support for the coalition among Arab nations and re-start the failing peace process. The spokesman for the prime minister said the mini-summit was an opportunity to "swap notes" on the war against terrorism. He said the timing was particularly useful as Schroeder has just returned from talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin while Chirac is visiting Washington next week. Blair is also due to fly to Washington to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush. Last week Blair visited Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel andthe Palestinian Authority to try and encourage the revival of Middle East peace talks. But the value of his mission has been questioned since there were few signs of concrete progress and several embarrassing public declarations from leaders he met with, most notably Syria's President Assad. The Downing Street talks were initially to involve only German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder as well as French President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin. But Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Spain's Jose Maria Aznar are also now attending the meeting. The other late additions at the dinner table are Guy Verhofstadt, Belgian prime minister and current holder of the European Union's rotating presidency, Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok, and the EU's representative on foreign and security affairs, Javier Solana. |
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