For Immediate Release
February 9, 2005

Global Message

From remarks by Secretary of State Rice, Paris, France, 2/8/05

America and Europe are joining to encourage political pluralism, economic openness, and the growth of civil society through the Broader Middle East and North Africa initiative.

The flagship of the initiative is the Forum for the Future - a partnership of progress between the democratic world and nearly two dozen nations, extending from Morocco to Pakistan.

America and Europe must build on recent successes by stabilizing and advancing democratic progress in Afghanistan and Iraq.

America and Europe are working to achieve new successes, particularly in Arab-Israeli diplomacy. America and Europe both support a two-state solution: an independent and democratic Palestinian state living side-by-side in peace with the Jewish State of Israel.

We both support the process of reform in the Palestinian Authority, because democratic reform will enlarge the basis of a genuine peace. Europe and America also support the Israeli government's determination to withdraw from Gaza and parts of the West Bank. Withdrawal is an opportunity to move ahead - first to the Roadmap, and ultimately to our real destination: a genuine and just peace.

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