960402

Israel's Peres in Qatar

DOHA: sraeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres arrived in Qatar on Tuesday, the first official visit by an Israeli premier to the Gulf Arab state, the official Qatar news agency said.

He was received at Doha airport on his arrival from Oman by Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Thani and was scheduled to have talks with the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.

During his one-day visit, Peres will give a news conference and pay a visit to Ras Laffan, an industrial area and site of two multi-billion dollar gas liquefication plants.

Ras Laffan, 70 km (43 miles) north of Doha, is located near Qatar's North Field, the world's largest single offshore gas field.

Qatar gave U.S. Enron Corp ENE.Napproval to market five million tonnes of LNG annually, half to India and the rest to the Middle East from a planned $4 billion joint venture.

Enron and Israel's Energy Ministry signed a memorandum of understanding last October to supply at least two million tonnes a year of Qatari natural gas to Israel.-Reuter