Powell to hold road map talks in Jordan

US Secretary of State Colin Powell is to meet officials from the UN, EU and Russia in a bid to get the Mideast road map to peace back on track.

The talks will take place in Aqaba, the Jordanian resort where President George Bush last week met Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas to launch the road map.

The tentative date for Powell to hold the meeting is June 22, coinciding with a World Economic Forum meeting at the Red Sea resort, but no final arrangements have been made.

Powell will be joined by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. Senior EU officials were also invited.

The group, known as a Quartet, devised the road map that calls for an end to 33 months of conflict, establishment of a Palestinian state by 2005 and other measures designed to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.