Baath Party Holds Its 14th National Conference

DAMASCUS, (ST)- The Baath Arab Socialist Party (BASP) on Sunday held its 14th National Conference with the participation of representatives  of national parties in Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Tunisia, Mauritania and Syria.

The party’s current national leadership presented its resignation to the conference, before the conferees started discussing issues relating to methods of enhancing the party’s vividness and self-development abilities as to be able to cope with developments, meet the aspirations of the young generations and play a more effective role in boosting national thinking in the region.

 The event was named the “Conference of Founder and Leader Hafez Al-Assad”.

 During the conference opening session,  the Assistant Regional Secretary of the BASP Hilal al-Hilal was elected as Head of the conference . He made a speech in which he said that holding the conference after a four-year stop proves Syria’s will to activate national party life in the light of the current weak Arab situation.  He added that the conference is an important step on the basis of which real national baathist action will be based in the years to come through the formation of the national council.

On his part, Assistant Secretary General of the BASP Abdullah al-Ahmar said that the party has been a development seeker that enabled Syria to have notable position and key role in the region and the world, particularly after the President Hafez Al-Assad-led Correction Movement.

Al-Ahmar reviewed the party’s history of struggle since 1947 against the conspiracies hatched against Syria by the world Imperialism and Zionism and their tools, stressing that Syria has been targeted because of its commitment to the principles of the Baath Arab Socialist Party, represented in supporting the Palestinian cause and the Arab resistance to liberate the occupied Arab territories from the Israeli occupation.    

According to the communiqué of the conference, the conferees agreed on implementing the principle of collective leadership to guarantee free and democratic consultations among the parties’ leaderships. They also agreed that the collective leadership should  meet periodically within the framework of a “national council” which is to act as an alternative for the national leadership formula. The council is due to comprise the regional secretaries of the Baath parties in the Arab countries.

The conferees reviewed the situation at the regional and international arenas and condemned the terrorist war that has been targeting Syria, as a state, people and national role. They affirmed that this war has failed to achieve its goals which have been to stop Syria’s being the core of national action and resistance against the American-Zionist scheme against the Arab homeland and the entire region.

They hailed the sacrifices of the Syrian people and army in defense of their country’s dignity, independence and sovereignty.

Hamda Mustafa