The meeting of the international Quartet opened Sunday morning in Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on the Mideast peace process.
The international Quartet, which groups the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia, will evaluate development of the Mideast peace process, particularly peace negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana are attending the meeting.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are expected to brief the development of the peace talks during the meeting, which comes a year after a U.S.-hosted Mideast conference.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R) shakes hands with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni before their meeting in Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Nov. 9, 2008. Abbas and Livni held closed-door talks here on the sidelines of the Middle East Quartet Principals Meeting Sunday. At the U.S.-hosted Annapolis conference on Mideast peace last November, Palestinian and Israeli leaders pledged to try to reach a peace agreement by the end of 2008.
But the United States admitted that there are slim chances for the two sides to reach a deal in the year.
Rice, who arrived Saturday in the Egyptian resort for the Quartet meeting, said Thursday that a year-end target date for a Palestinian-Israeli agreement was no longer realistic.
Source:Xinhua
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