Meeting With Jordanian Representatives White House Statement Issued Following the Meeting Between the President and Chief of the Royal Court Sharif Abdul Hamid Sharaf and Foreign Minister Hassan Ibrahim.

The President and Chief of the Royal Court Sharif Abdul Hamid Sharaf and Jordanian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hassan Ibrahim met in the Cabinet Room for 1 hour and 20 minutes. The meeting was also attended by Vice President Mondale; Secretary of State Cyrus Vance; David Aaron, Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs; Alfred L. Atherton, Jr., Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs; Thomas Pickering, U.S. Ambassador to Jordan; and William Quandt, National Security Council staff member, on the American side; and by Jordanian Ambassador to the United States Abdullah Salah.

The President welcomed the two Jordanian representatives to the White House by reaffirming the longstanding friendship and support of the Government and people of the United States for His Majesty King Hussein and the people of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The President noted that these strong ties are a firm basis for our mutual search for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. As he had in his earlier meetings here with foreign ministers from the area, the President underlined his own conviction that peace requires compromise and courageous leadership from all the parties to the negotiations.

The President and Jordanian representatives agreed on the importance of finding a formula to begin negotiations through reconvening the Geneva conference 'by the end of the year. They discussed procedural issues involved in resuming the conference and the substantive issues to be resolved in an overall settlement. The Jordanian representatives presented Jordan's ideas for a just settlement. The President responded that the Jordanian ideas will be useful in the continuing talks with Middle East foreign ministers. Secretary Vance, who had begun talks with the Jordanians here at an earlier meeting, will be pursuing the discussion both of their ideas and American suggestions for reconciling differences between the parties. The meeting today devoted some time to the specific problem of how the Palestinians should be represented at the Geneva conference. The President and Jordanian representatives agreed that this current round of talks should seek a solution to this question, so as to achieve the common goal of reconvening Geneva as soon as possible.

The President concluded by asking the Jordanian representatives to convey to King Hussein his assurances that he remains committed to doing all possible in continuing efforts toward a comprehensive settlement in the Middle East.