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Below is the full text of the message.

“I am glad to have an opportunity to send greetings and good wishes to all the participants in the Arab summit.

“Your meeting is taking place under complex political conditions. The situation in Iraq that you have met to discuss so urgently in Egypt is worrying not only to the countries and peoples of the region but of the world.

“Due to the insistent efforts of the international community over the past few months, favourable conditions have been created to finally close the issue related to the possibility of weapons of mass destruction and delivery systems in Iraq. The inspection groups of the UNMOVIC and the IAEA are successfully implementing the mandate of the UN Security Council. I should also note the Iraqi side’s readiness to constructively cooperate with the international inspectors. Considering all this, we deem it necessary to continue the missions of the UNMOVIC and the IAEA in Iraq and, if necessary, to take additional measures to strengthen their expert and technical potential. The entire set of these problems can and should be solved within the framework of the UN Security Council which, we are convinced, should play the central role in the Iraqi settlement.

I am sure that the Arab world, as well as Russia, is interested in Iraqi settlement without the use of force, within the context of complete fulfilment of the relevant Security Council resolutions. This is the only way to avoid extremely negative military-political, economic and humanitarian consequences to which a new armed conflict in the region can lead.

“The situation around Iraq, no matter how dangerous it might be, should not overshadow the older main conflict in the Middle East – the Arab-Israeli conflict – or serve as a pretext for delaying its resolution. It is all the more so because the earliest possible launching of the mechanism for normalising relations between Israel and the Arabs, primarily Palestinians, will create a more favourable context in a search for a political solution to the Iraqi crisis.

“Russia fully supports the settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict on the basis of the Security Council’s Resolutions 242 and 338, the Madrid principles, primarily the ‘land for peace’ formula, and also Resolution 1397 of the UN Security Council envisaging the establishment of a viable and sovereign state of Palestine co-existing side by side with Israel within safe and recognised borders. We regard Saudi Arabia’s initiative adopted at the Beirut summit in March 2002 as an essential element of the international legal framework for the Arab-Israeli settlement.

“A path to this settlement is outlined in the ‘road map’ worked out by the four international mediators, and Russia deems it vitally important to launch it in the near future.

“I believe the decisions you will take following the summit will be on the scale and scope of the current Mideast developments.

“I am also convinced that continuing and strengthening traditional friendship and cooperation between Russia and the Arab countries is in our common interests.”