Jordan deployed thousands of elite special forces and security personnel around major hotels and Dead Sea resorts on the eve of a high-profile World Economic Forum (WEF).
More than 400 high-powered political delegations, including that of US Secretary of State Colin Powell, are to take part in the forum. The conference's agenda revolves around the stalled Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations, the future of Iraq, intrinsic reforms across the Arab nations and economic interaction.
The Shuneh resort where the forum is being held has been sealed off, while thousands of soldiers are stationed along the highway leading to the Dead Sea.
It will be the second such annual WEF gathering along the Dead Sea shores, away from its winter venue in Davos, Switzerland. The forum is held just one week before a crucial Arab summit in Tunis and in the wake of a suicide bombing in Riyadh.
It also comes two weeks after Jordan said it thwarted an al-Qaeda plot that could have killed tens of thousands of people.
Partnering
One of the most important encounters will be a meeting between Powell and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia ahead of scheduled talks between Qureia and US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice.
It will be the first such encounter with a high-ranking US official since Qureia took office six months ago.
Democratic reforms in Arab states is an issue that holds high importance for the US at the WEF meeting.
The issue of reform has taken center stage because the spiraling violence in Iraq and between Israel and the Palestinians has forced regional economic cooperation projects onto the back burner, analysts said.
"Partnering for regional reform" is the first area of focus mentioned in the WEF literature for the three-day meeting.
Of the nearly 30 sessions of political discussion scheduled, half are devoted to subjects linked to reform, such as good governance, civil society and women's rights.
The US sees in democratic and economic development remedies to frustration and repression fueling terrorism in Arab countries.
But the Arab states say that the main causes of extremism and terrorism are Israel's occupation of Arab land, US support of the Jewish state and its invasion of Iraq last year.
US President George W. Bush wrote in a letter to Jordanian King Abdullah II on May 6 that the hosting of the WEF meeting "will be an important milestone in clearly demonstrating to the world that the region is yearning for reforms and opportunity."
Authoritarian regimes
"The subject of reform in the entire Middle East will be central at the G-8 summit in June, and any guidance that emerges from the WEF will be most helpful as a guide to future action," Bush said.
Powell is expected to stress this point in an address to the forum after its opening by King Abdullah.
Most Arab states are governed by authoritarian regimes that have rejected the US administration's "Greater Middle East Initiative" for democratic reforms as interference in their internal affairs.
The US initiative, to be presented at the June 8-10 Group of Eight summit in the US, nevertheless put pressure on Arab states to put reform on the agenda of their summit scheduled for May 22-23.
Arab diplomats have said the summit to be held in Tunisia is expected to produce a declaration confirming the need to promote reforms, but allows each of the 22 Arab regimes decide on their timing and content.
Egyptian political analyst Mustafa Kamel Sayyed said internal reforms have climbed the WEF agenda as the insurgency in Iraq and the continuing Middle East violence prevent it from promoting region-wide projects as in previous years.
No breakthroughs
"There no breakthrough between Israel and Palestinians that would allow cooperation projects to move forward, and Iraq is highly unstable. Reforms have become the main economic focus," said Sayyed, a political science professor at the University of Cairo.
At the meeting held here last year, the US unveiled a "roadmap" to set up a US-Middle East Free Trade Area by 2013 that would bolster efforts to secure peace in the region and develop its resources.
The WEF said more than 850 participants from 51 countries have registered for the event held at the lowest point on the surface of the earth, at about 400m below sea level.
Among those confirmed are UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who is to oversee the formation of an Iraqi interim government for the period from July 1 until elections in January, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher and Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
And for the first time Syria -- which has been slapped by US sanctions this week -- will be represented at the official level with the participation of Economy Minister Ghassan Rifai.
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