LONDON Britain, as presidency of the European Union, is hosting a ministerial meeting next Wednesday with the member states of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council to focus solely on political dialogue, the Foreign Office announced here. Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said in a statement Friday that the meeting had a weighty agenda with the clear aim to develop dialogue into a partnership, which will enhance stability in the Middle East to the benefit of both our regions and the wider world.

The Persian Gulf, he said, was vitally important, strategically and economically. The shared over-riding interests in security were again brought to the fore earlier this year in the latest crisis with Iraq, he said. Attending the meeting are the foreign ministers of the EU Troika of past, present and future presidencies, Luxembourg, Britain and Austria and their counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and Oman. Vice-President of the European Commission Manuel Marin and the Secretary General of the PGCC, Jamil al-Hejailan, will also attend the meeting, covering inter-regional relations, Iraq, Iran and the Middle East peace process.

The Foreign Office said that in 1998, the two groups had planned more ministerial meetings than in previous years. (IRNA)