H.H Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Meets Russian FM

H. H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Foreign Minister met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The two sides discussed during the meeting the bilateral relations and situation in the region, especially the latest developments in Syria.

Present were Khalid Al Ghaith, Assistant Foreign Minister for the Economic Affairs, H.H Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Butti, Director of the Department of European Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mohammed Al Khaja, Adviser to Foreign Minister and UAE Ambassador to Russia Omer Saif Ghobash.

UAE Foreign Minister HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan expressed hope to reach a political and diplomatic solution to the Syrian crisis and said that this could be achieved only through a unified voice and full-fledged international cooperation and concerted effort.

He said that the decisions taken by the Council of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo on the situation in Syria took a lot of effort and came after substantial amount of time since the unfortunate events in Syria started. "We are approaching the end of an year within one month from today" after they began, said H.H Sheikh Abdullah.

Addressing a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov after their meeting today in Moscow, H.H Sheikh Abdullah said: "Any victim who lost life in these events is an innocent victim without doubt. We condemn the killing of any person in Syria. But we see that there is a responsibility on any regime or government in any country to maintain stability".

"There is also the responsibility to save those lives and protect their safety. Similarly, the UN Security Council also has a duty to maintain international peace and security", stressed H.H Sheikh Abdullah. He also said that the Security Council does not listen clearly to the position of the Arab League, which is closer than any other party in feelings, geography and access to information on what is happening in Syria.

H.H Sheikh Abdullah stressed the need to stop the killings in Syria, emphasising at the same time that a military solution is not what is needed as it is a wrong solution, and since the last eleven months people are dying without reaching any result.

Speaking at the press conference Russian Foreign Minister said: "We need wide inter-Syrian dialogue and co-operation to find a solution or decisions which will meet the interest of all Syrians and which will rule out interference from outside". "We have joint efforts to support the [Syrian] people and its aspiration and hopes for a better life, democratic development, joint effort for this aspiration to stop this bloodshed", Lavrov said.