BRUSSELS - US PRESIDENT Barack Obama's speech in Cairo on Thursday opens a 'new page' in relations with the Arab-Muslim world and resolving the Middle East conflict, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said.
'It was a remarkable speech, a speech that without any doubt is going to open a new page in the relation with the Arab-Muslim world and I hope in the problems we have in so many theatres in the region,' he told reporters in Brussels.
Mr Obama vowed to forge a 'new beginning' for Islam and America in a landmark speech to the world's Muslims, evoking a vision of peace after a smouldering cycle of 'suspicion and discord.'
'I found in it a lot of things that we have been saying from the EU for some time. I am very happy to see that it was expressed in such a clear manner, in such a convincing manner, in such a remarkable manner by the president of the United States.'
Mr Obama notably supported, like the EU, the creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Mr Obama, for whom Middle East peace is a key element of foreign policy, vowed that the United States would not turn its back on the 'legitimate' Palestinian aspiration for a state.
And the US leader, on his first major visit to the Middle East, vowed that he would 'personally pursue this outcome.'
Mr Solana said that his phone had not stopped ringing after Mr Obama delivered his speech with 'prime ministers, ministers, important friends, everybody being positively impressed.'
The climate which the speech creates 'is very constructive and positive,' he stressed, while adding that concerted efforts must now be made. 'What we cannot do is fail.'
Mr Solana did not say exactly when his Middle East tour would begin but told reporters he would be visiting Israel, the Palestinian West Bank, Jordan ('if the king is there'), Egypt and Lebanon before returning on June 15. -- AFP
