EU´s Solana meets with Abbas in Ramallah

Source: CCTV.com | 03-01-2009 10:52

In the West Bank the European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana has met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. The meeting comes ahead of the Palestinian donor's conference being held in Cairo next week, which aims to raise funds for rebuilding Gaza.

Solana has toured the Gaza Strip and voiced support for efforts to end the schism between Hamas and Fatah, the two main rivals among various Palestinian factions.

Javier Solana said, "I don't think that there is a need for new mechanisms, but the mechanisms that exist already can be the most efficient mechanisms to deploy the money rapidly."

Mahmoud Abbas said, "These donations are going to come for the rebuilding of Gaza. They should be done through the Palestinian National Authority and carried out through international institutions that are present there."

Solana said the EU and the United States would attend a Western donors' conference in Egypt next week. The meeting will seek to raise some of the estimated 2.8 billion US dollars needed for reconstruction in Gaza.

Solana said the European Union is ready to redeploy monitors there once a Palestinian reconciliation deal is reached.

Editor:Yang Jie