(WASHINGTON) - The United States will join Russia, the European Union and the United Nations in sending envoys to Jordan next week for a meeting of the so-called quartet on the Arab-Israeli peace process.

"David Welch will attend an envoys' quartet meeting in Amman, Jordan on April 17," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters without elaborating.

Welch, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, works for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who met Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Jordan at the end of March in a bid to revive the troubled peace talks.

In 2004, the quartet of the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union launched a roadmap for peace that calls for creating a Palestinian state living in peace alongside a secure Israel.

Under terms of the roadmap, Israel is to freeze settlements and the Palestinians are to stop violence.

The roadmap underpins the peace talks that were revived in November after a seven-year hiatus, with both sides vowing to try to reach agreement by the end of 2008, but negotiations have since made little progress.

During a visit to Vienna on Wednesday, Jordan's King Abdullah II said the peace process has reached a "critical" phase.

His comments came a day after reports said Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and US President George W. Bush would hold a peace summit in Egypt next month.

Text and Picture Copyright 2008 AFP. All other Copyright 2008 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is intended solely for personal use. Any other reproduction, publication or redistribution of this material without the written agreement of the copyright owner is strictly forbidden and any breach of copyright will be considered actionable.