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Tony Blair urges support for Prime Minister Fayyad's two-year state building plan at donors meeting

Quartet Representative Tony Blair and US Special Envoy for the Middle East George Mitchell met with the Paris Donors Group in Brussels today as part of the latest push for Middle East peace.

The purpose of the meeting was to have a consultation among the core actors involved in donor coordination for the Palestinian Authority, to review the status of the political efforts with George Mitchell and the work Tony Blair is leading on the ground on behalf of the Quartet to prepare the Palestinians for statehood as part of the international community's effort to secure peace and in support of Prime Minister Fayyad's two-year plan for state building.

Norwegian Foreign Minister and Chair of the Ad Hoc Liaison Group Jonas Gahr Stoere told reporters: "This meeting is part of an ongoing effort of consultations of key donors to coordinate assistance among ourselves and also coordinate the link the financial mobilization and political efforts to make progress in negotiations.

"The day there is a resumption of negotiations - the sooner the better - we feel confident in this group that donors once again will rally to the challenge and stand up to support the creation of a Palestinian state."

The meeting was hosted by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as the lead on donor coordination, and they convened Tuesday's meeting jointly with the Americans.

Senator George Mitchell welcomed the fact that the international community had come together for Tuesday's meeting, saying: "No one country, no one person can do this alone. Our American partnership with our European allies and the broader international community is critical to our effort and will be essential to our achieving these objectives."

"In our meeting we stressed the importance of coordination in working together to support the Palestinian Authority's programme to build the institutions of a future state that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people," he said.

"American partnership with our European allies and the broader international community is critical to our effort and will be essential to our achieving of these objectives," Mitchell added.

The meeting reflects the international community's commitment to govern effectively when the Palestinian state has been established, stated Store in the joint press conference.

On his part, Mitchell called for the resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the basis of a two-state solution.

Quartet Representative Tony Blair said there is a huge degree of consensus across the international community to support the Palestinian Authority's two-year programme to build the institutions of statehood as well as seeing negotiations restart as soon as possible.

Tony Blair said: "We want to see negotiations begin again as quickly as possible as Senator Mitchell was saying for the two-state solution, and that we will continue to do everything we can, in terms of support on the economy, on the institutions, on the capacity really supporting the plans, that the Palestinian Authority, President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayed have set out."

The meeting was chaired by Norwegian Foreign Minister and Chair of the Ad Hoc Liaison Group Jonas Gahr Stoere and also attended by Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, George Mitchell, US Special Envoy to the Middle East, Quartet Representative Tony Blair, Miguel Angel Moratinos, Foreign Affairs Minister of Spain (the country which holds the EU Presidency), and French Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Kouchner.