U.S. Secretary of State James Baker and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze have agreed to step up cooperation on the Middle East and have appointed high-ranking aides to serve as their liaisons on the subject.
The two men are here for a Cambodian peace conference that began Sunday with the participation of 18 countries They discussed their Middle East priorities during nearly three hours of talks on world issues, including the Arab-Israeli conflict.
They also agreed that another meeting in September could lead to a summit meeting between President Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.
Baker and Shevardnadze agreed to have Dennis Ross, the director of policy planning for the State Department, and Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Terrasov act as their representatives on the Middle East.
The two appointees, in fact, are both already involved in the policy area and have each met with Israeli officials. Ross, who is Jewish, has already been to the Middle East on one mission for the Bush administration.
Terrasov, who is described as close to Gorbachev, met July 20 in Tunis with Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasir Arafat. He later briefed an Israeli Labor Party official, Nimrod Novik, on the talks during a meeting here in Paris.
Novik, who is a close aide to Vice Premier Shimon Peres, was told that the PLO was ready to accept, under certain conditions, Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir’s plan for Palestinian elections in the administered territories.
Furthermore, it was reported from Moscow last week that Terrasov would soon be visiting Israel, even though Moscow has yet to re-establish full Diplomatic relations.
The U.S.-Soviet decision to increase coordination on the Middle East “shows that our two countries are no longer adversaries or backing enemies, but are determined to work out a joint solution satisfactory to both sides,” a Soviet commentator who did not wish to be identified told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
French officials who have been in close contact this weekend with both Baker and Shevardnadze say their decision augurs well, spelling the end of East-West confrontation on the issue.
The two are expected to take up the issue again when they meet Sept. 19 and 20 in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
The venue, where Baker owns a ranch, was chosen as a novel alternative to New York, the usual location for high-level meetings that take place while the U.N. General Assembly is in session.
Their meeting here, which took place at the Soviet ambassador’s home, was described as “relaxed, shirt-sleeved, friendly and businesslike.”
Diplomatic sources said the two men expressed different views on various issues but were pretty close on their Middle East analysis.
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