In Gore’s Middle East Swing, Aid Discussed in Jordan, Egypt

Vice President Al Gore traveled to the MIddle East this week for a series of talks with regional leaders about the peace process.

Gore arrived in the Jordanian capital of Amman on Tuesday in what was the second stop of tour that was to include visits to Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian self-rule areas, Saudi Arabia and Oman.

In Amman, Gore promised Jordanian officials that the United States will write off all of Jordan’s debt to the U.S. government, a pledge President Clinton made on the eve of the historic Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty signed in October.

Last week, the House of Representatives undercut Clinton’s pledge by approving debt relief for only $50 million of Jordan’s total outstanding debt of $275 million.

The Senate subsequently agreed to write off all of Jordan’s debt, and the Senate proposal is expected to prevail in negotiations between the House and Senate lawmakers.

“We are committed to full debt forgiveness in 1995, and we will meet out commitment,” Gore told Jordanian officials.

Gore’s visit to Amman, which included discussions about Israeli-Jordanian relations, came a week before King Hussein and President Clinton were scheduled to meet in Washington.

On Monday, Gore arrived in Cairo for the first leg of his Middle East tour.

After Gore met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo, the two officials publicly stated that U.S. annual civilian aid to Egypt of about $800 million would be cut.

Since 1979, when Egypt signed its peace treaty with Israel, Cairo has been receiving a total annual aid package of $2.1 billion, of which $1.3 billion is military assistance.

“We don’t expect that the aid will last forever,” Mubarak said at a joint news conference. “We know very well that there will come a time when it will be reduced.”

Gore said the Clinton administration was committed to maintaining the current level of civilian aid at least through 1996.

Gore was in Cairo to promote the “Partnership for Growth,” a new program aimed at replacing American government assistance to Egypt in the civilian sphere with private-sector cooperative ventures involving the two countries.

While in Cairo, Gore endorsed the idea of banning nuclear weapons from the Middle East.

But he refused to pressure Israel, which is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

U.S.-Egyptian relations are at a sensitive stage because of disagreements over the treaty. Egypt has demanded that Israel become a signatory to the treaty, which is up for renewal next month.

The United States has stood behind Israel’s position that it will not sign the treaty until peace is reached throughout the entire Middle East.

Gore was due to arrive a Israel on Thursday.