King Abdullah opens the 2013 World Economic Forum

King Abdullah of Jordan opened the 2013 World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa with an urgent appeal for more regional cooperation, in the light of unfolding chaos in Syria and the need for peace in Palestine.

“Openness is a strategic choice for Jordan, but regional cooperation is the backbone of sustainable growth throughout the region,” King Abdullah said. “It is also absolutely necessary for stability and peace.”

King Abdullah called for far more urgency to find a political solution in Syria to prevent further fragmentation of the region and spread of violence. He was speaking in the full knowledge that his small country is host to more than 500,000 Syrian refugees, equal to 10 per cent of the country’s population.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas made a special address to the World Economic Forum, in which he repeated the Palestinians’ continued commitment to the Two State Solution, under which two states of Israel and Palestine are supposed to co-exist in peace and mutual respect.

He assured the meeting that the Palestinian Authority has done everything necessary to push ahead with a peace agreement based on a two-state solution. Abbas said that “there remains a small window of opportunity for peace, and I invite the Israelis to make peace a reality on the ground.”

Reconciliation

Abbas also said that his Fatah party wants to end the split with Hamas, and that reconciliation needs a transitional government of neutral figures, which Abbas said was largely agreed, which would be followed by elections in all the territories which he said was not yet agreed.

Abbas said that his top priorities are ending Palestinian divisions, Jewish colony activity, Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and freeing Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.

The unannounced visits to the World Economic Forum of the US Secretary of State John Kerry, and Senators John McCain and Bob Menendez are part of an American effort to refocus attention on the Middle East.

While the urgency of the situation in Syria is a driving force for the Americans, there may also be a renewed desire to stop the inertia in over finding peace in Palestine. In theory, the fact that neither Kerry nor Obama will be seeking further high office makes it possible for them to take political risks with their American electorate, although Kerry’s speech tomorrow may reveal if this is wishful thinking.

The World Economic Forum has gathered 900 business and government leaders from 23 countries in the Mena (Middle East and North Africa) region, and the programme includes diverse issues like Islam and governance, youth empowerment and job creation, as well as the major political issues of the day.