British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday held telephone talks with United States President George W. Bush on the situation in the Middle East and the Indian-Pakistan crisis, his office said.
"They spoke on the telephone this evening. They discussed the situation in the Middle East and India and Pakistan," a Downing Street spokesman said. But he refused to provide any further details.
Bush has recently met key Middle East leaders as Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to try to formulate a new strategy for the region. But he is under growing international pressure to come up with a solution to the 20-month-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Blair also met Mubarak and Sharon when they stopped off in London on their way to or back from Washington. But he had made it clear several times that he would support the establishment of a Palestinian state in order to restart the Middle East peace process.
Tensions between India and Pakistan also remained high on Friday as intense shelling resumed in the disputed Kashmir region between the two nuclear power states, although Islamabad said it had pulled back its warships from high-alert positions.
(Xinhua News Agency June 15, 2002)
