(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) The EU Council of Ministers Wednesday appointed Italian diplomat Fernando Gentilini, 53, as EU Special Representative for the Middle East peace process.
The tasks of the Special Representative are to contribute to actions and initiatives leading to a final settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on a two state solution. He will facilitate contact between the parties and contribute to setting up a possible new framework for negotiations, said the Council in a statement.
Gentilini, former director for Western Europe, Western Balkans and Turkey for the EU foreign service, known as European External Action Service, has an extensive career in foreign affairs. From May 2011 to January 2012, he was EU Special Representative in Kosovo.
He will take up his duties immediately and is initially appointed until 30 April 2016.
The EU had created the post in 1996 after the Oslo Accords but it was abolished by the former EU High Representative Catherine Ashton in 2014 in order to have more power over Middle East policy herself.
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