07 January 2002

A/S Burns Will Travel to Gulf Region Jan 9-18

Department of State Spokesman Richard Boucher confirmed that Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns will travel to Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Yemen from January 9-18.

His discussions are likely to focus on issues of mutual concern such as the campaign against terrorism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and specific bilateral issues, according to Boucher.

Asked whether Burns would visit Israel or the Palestinian areas in January, particularly if he had the opportunity to overlap there with Special Middle East Envoy Anthony Zinni as he did in December, Boucher said Burns had no plans at this time to travel beyond the Gulf area.

Question: Speaking of dates, there was another date mentioned in a paper -- a Yemeni newspaper this morning, saying that Assistant Secretary Burns would be there in Sana'a on the 17th. Was this also discussed earlier? I'm sorry.

Mr. Boucher: I don't -- no, it wasn't. I don't have a specific date for you for Yemen, but Assistant Secretary Burns will travel to the region from January 9th to the 18th. He'll be talking about issues of mutual concern, like the campaign against terrorism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and then bilateral and regional issues with countries involved. His stops include Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Yemen in -- (to staff) -- Do we know if it's in that order?

Staff: (Off mike.)

Mr. Boucher: In approximately that order.

So that would put Yemen towards the end of the trip from the 9th through the 18th.

Question: So he doesn't expect to go to any of the -- if he's talking about the Israelis and the Palestinians, he might expect to be going to --

Mr. Boucher: Is he going to the region? In the region --

Question: Yeah. The region -- within the region. Like --

Mr. Boucher: At this point, as you know, he's been making a number of trips to the Near East, North Africa, and he's been -- was with General Zinni on the original stops in Israel and the Palestinian areas. So this is to another part of his vast region. I don't know of any travel to Israel or Jerusalem at this point.