Powell heading to Middle East
Secretary of state hopes to revive Israeli-Palestinian talks
(CNN) -- -- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said he'll head for the Middle East on Sunday for talks aimed at reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process in the wake of Yasser Arafat's death.
Powell told the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio on Saturday that he will go straight to the Middle East when he leaves the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Santiago, Chile.
"We are very anxious to see the election for the Palestinian Authority president take place on the ninth of January," Powell said.
He said he plans to talk about the election with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders, emphasizing the need for them to work together in order to make it happen.
In addition, Powell said, he will be discussing security in Gaza as the Palestinians assume control of the region.
"Then, I will be looking for ways that we can get both sides to start moving down the road map," he said. "They have mutual obligations in the road map, and we think this is the time to start moving forward."
From the Middle East, Powell will travel to Sharm al-Sheikh, Egypt, to meet with members of the Mideast Quartet and brief them on his meetings in Jerusalem. Members of the quartet are the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia.
Powell, who resigned from his position last week, said he had no regrets about the four years he has spent with President Bush. "I never regret," he said. "I do not have regrets because they do not do you any good."
He also addressed the subject of Iran's nuclear program. Powell said he hopes Iran lives up to its new agreement with the European Union, but "there is no good reason to just trust the Iranian assurances. We need to see performance."
The United States has been criticized in Latin America for focusing mainly on the war on drugs, free trade and the fight against terrorism. But Powell noted that those concerns are global, and that efforts in Latin America went beyond that.
"With our efforts on HIV/AIDS, more money will be going into the Caribbean, part of our Latin American, our Western Hemispheric family," he said.
Powell said Latin America has been a priority for him, and said that in his four years of secretary of state he had been to the region 16 times -- more than his two predecessors were able to do over a period of eight years.
Producer Elise Labott contributed to this report
