BRUSSELS - EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Thursday that he supported an international conference on peace in the Middle East but was cautious about dates put forward by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Solana said that such a conference was explicitly called for in the diplomatic roadmap to peace in the region and the plan`s sponsors -- the United Nations, the European Union, Russia and the United States -- had in principle agreed to it.
"The roadmap ... is clear in a second phase that a conference has to take place", Solana said.
But he added: "I cannot say that (it) will be in the fall or what month of the year or what month next year".
Solana was speaking at a news conference following a meeting here with outgoing World Bank president James Wolfensohn, who has been recently appointed special envoy for the so-called diplomatic quartet of the EU, Russia, UN and US to help in the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Putin proposed Wednesday in Cairo that an international conference on peace in the Middle East be held next autumn in Moscow.
The Palestinians have given an enthusiastic reaction to the offer while Israel and the United States are more reticent.
The quartet drafted the peace plan known as the roadmap, which calls for a Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.
It has made little progress since its launch two years ago.
04/28/2005 15:21 GMT