March 14, 2003	Friday	Muharram 10, 1424

BRUSSELS, March 13: Britain’s Queen Elizabeth has postponed an official visit to Belgium next week, the Belgian foreign ministry said on Thursday, amid mounting preparations for a US-led invasion of Iraq.

“The official visit that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain was to make on March 18 has been postponed as a result of the international situation,” the ministry said in a statement.

Prime Minister Tony Blair’s official spokesman said the Queen had cancelled her visit on government advice, but insisted it was not an indication that an attack would be launched next week.

“We are obviously at a critical stage in the UN process,” he said. “It doesn’t indicate one way or another which way the diplomatic effort will conclude...but it is sensible that the head of state is in this country rather than abroad.”

Belgium’s centre-left government is strongly opposed to an attack on Iraq.—Reuters