Syrians Must Unite to Expel Terrorists- Lavrov. The West Responsible for the Suffering of Syrians- Jamil
MOSCOW, (ST) _ Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, stressed the importance of working on a political solution to end the crisis in Syria.
During his meeting on Monday with the Syrian Deputy prime Minister for Economic Affairs Qadri Jamil Minister Lavrov issued a new call for the Syrian government and opposition to work together to expel all terrorists and extremists from Syria.
He added “the situation in Syria worries us , and we are convinced that there is no military solution to it, as we continue our meetings with all, including representatives of the Syrian government and all opposition groups and work to convince everyone to accept the Russian-American initiative to hold the international conference on Syria without any conditions for the full and comprehensive implementation of the provisions of the Geneva statement issued on June 30th, 2012.”
Lavrov regretted that the majority of the Syrian opposition groups, including the ” Doha coalition ” has not shown willingness to engage in the international conference ,unlike willingness shown by the Syrian government , commending the Syrian government’s willingness to dialogue with the opposition forces, calling for continued efforts so that no opposition group remains outside the framework of participation in the international conference.
He noted the recent statement of the G -8 summit held in Ireland in June , and its direct call to the government and the opposition to unite efforts to expel terrorists from the country, and priorities of the upcoming International Conference to take concrete measures to enabling the implementation of all Geneva Statement provisions .
Lavrov said that Moscow proposes to draw specific procedures for the implementation of the Geneva statement.
For his part, Jamil blamed the West for the human and material losses inflected on the Syrian people as a result of the economic “siege”,which practically turned into collective punishment against the Syrian people.
He expressed appreciation for the Russian position on the crisis in Syria, adding,” We highly appreciate the role of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation, in contributing to the issuance of the final statement of the recent G-8 Summit .
Jamil stressed that the Syrian internal opposition fully supports the forthcoming international conference on Syria, stressing the need for Iran’s participation in this conference along with all the parties concerned, noting that excluding any party concerned with resolving the crisis in Syria obstructs its urgent settlement.
Jamil confirmed in a statement to SANA in Moscow that his talks with Lavrov were positive , during which economic cooperation between the two sides were discussed in depth.
“We discussed with the Russian side all matters related to the improvement of the economic conditions in Syria, concerning work of production institutions , purchasing power of the Syrian lira and Syrian people level of consumption .” Jamil added.
He continued that the two sides agreed to activate the work of the Syrian-Russian inter-governmental agreement and stress was laid on the need to finding a political outlet for the crisis, through holding the international conference in Geneva.
Lavrov also stressed during a separate meeting with the ambassador to the League of Arab to Russia Jalal Al-Mashta that there is no alternative to a political settlement in Syria.
According to Itar-Tass Lavrov called for solving internal problems in Syria through peaceful means on the basis of national reconciliation principles.
The two sides exchanged views on the situation in the Middle East and North Africa and emphasized enhancing bilateral cooperation in various areas, including in the Russian-Arab Cooperation Forum.
T. Fateh