Amman - US Middle East envoy George Mitchell conferred Saturday with the Jordanian Foreign Minister Salah Bashir and said that the administration of US President Barack Obama would give "priority" to the Middle East peace process, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

"The US envoy asserted that the US administration is giving priority to the Middle East and to a serious effort towards the resumption of the peace process between the Palestinians and Israelis in the run-up for the two-state solution," the statement said.

"Bashir underlined the necessity for effective negotiations to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as a sole way for achieving security and peace in the region," it added.

The Jordanian foreign minister urged a "collaboration of world efforts with a view to starting serious negotiations that aim at reaching peace based on the two-state solution, the Arab peace initiative and the resolutions of international legitimacy," a reference to the relevant UN resolutions.

Mitchell arrived in Amman earlier in the day in the course of a regional tour, the first since he was assigned his new job by Obama earlier this month. (dpa)