“We hailed the delivery of the road map to Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and we backed the complete and rapid implementation of the measures outlined in the document,” Ivanov told journalists following the ministers’ meeting.

Prince Saud said they hoped the road map — laid out by the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States — would have a “positive influence on the Middle East” and that it would be put into action “as soon as possible”.

The road map, presented to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas on April 30, is a three-phase blueprint for peace that calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state by 2005.

In Jerusalem, a source in Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s office said yesterday that the premier will meet US President George W. Bush in Washington on May 20 to discuss the road map. The source said the two allies would also address the regional situation after the US-led war that toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, a major enemy of Israel.

A US Embassy spokesman in Tel Aviv could not immediately confirm the meeting, which would be the eighth between Bush and Sharon since the latter first took office in March 2001.

Bush said yesterday he was optimistic about making progress toward Middle East peace despite Israeli-Palestinian violence ahead of a weekend visit to the region by Secretary of State Colin Powell.

He added a concerted effort was needed to stop the violence so the peace process, outlined in the road map could proceed.

“Of course we’re going to make progress. Yes, we’ll make progress, absolutely,” Bush told reporters as he met the emir of Qatar in the Oval Office.

The reason for his optimism, he said, was the fact that Abbas had renounced violence and was committed to reforms.

“He understands what we know, that a peace process will proceed if and when there is a concerted effort to fight violence,” Bush said.

At the Moscow press conference, Prince Saud said the Kingdom and Russia were united in their desire to see a stable government take shape in post-Saddam Iraq. “What is most important is that we are united by the desire to preserve Iraq’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity,” the prince said.

Russia and Saudi Arabia “will work so that the Iraqis take control of the state in their hands, so that this governance serves the interests of the entire Iraqi people,” Prince Saud said.