HE the Foreign Minister Dr Khalid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah addressing the opening session of the joint meeting of GCC foreign ministers with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Doha yesterday.

 

QNA/Doha

HE the Foreign Minister Dr Khalid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah expressed the hope that the nuclear deal between Iran and the world powers would ensure security and stability in the region.
Speaking at the opening session of the joint meeting of GCC foreign ministers with US Secretary of State John Kerry here yesterday, al-Attiyah said: “We are looking forward that the nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 would lead to maintaining security and stability in the region, stressing the importance of co-operation with Iran on the basis of the principles of good neighbourliness, non-interference in the internal affairs and resolution of disputes through peaceful means.”
The Foreign Minister said that the meeting comes within the framework of the implementation of the goals and objectives that achieve the common goals drawn up by GCC leaders with the United States.
Al-Attiyah added that the meeting is being held amid exceptional regional and international circumstances and unprecedented challenges faced by many regions of the world, particularly the Middle East.
“They require us and the United States to exert further efforts to confront all challenges facing our societies in order to achieve global peace, security and stability,” Dr al-Attiyah said.
In this context, and out of the strategic importance of the Gulf region, HE Foreign Minister said, “The achievement of stability in the region is a matter of great importance for the region’s countries and the international community as a whole” and stressed the GCC states’ firm stand of averting any dangers or threats of nuclear weapons in the Gulf region while recognising the right of the region’s states to use the nuclear energy for peaceful purposes within the framework of international rules.
The Foreign Minister pointed out that the Middle East region suffers from the effects and implications of failure and freezing of the peace process and the continuation of the Israeli occupation of Arab territories for more than six decades, during which various regional and international efforts and initiatives did not succeed in putting an end to this occupation.
He added that the Israeli occupation is the most important source of instability in the Middle East. The state of instability has been perpetuated by Israel’s intransigent positions contravening the will of the international community by continuing its illegal settlement policy, the unjust blockade clamped on the Gaza Strip and the violation of international laws and resolutions.  
HE al-Attiyah called on the United States to redouble the efforts to restore the peace process and to end the Israeli occupation in accordance with relevant international resolutions, the Arab initiative and the principle of the two-state solution.
Touching on the situation in Yemen, the Foreign Minister stressed the GCC’s keenness to preserve the country’s unity and territorial integrity, respect of its sovereignty, completion of the political process in accordance with the GCC initiative and its executive mechanism in addition to the outputs of Yemen’s National Dialogue Conference (NDC) held in January 2014, the Riyadh Declaration of May 2015 and relevant UN Security Council Resolutions .
With regard to the Syrian crisis, he said: “Due to the weakness of the international community in dealing in a fair and serious way with the Syrian regime’s violations and crimes, we, along with the international community’s effective parties, should intensify joint efforts to halt violence, stem bloodshed and to achieve the will of the Syrian people regarding unity, security and stability in accordance with the Geneva-1 resolutions.
On the Iraqi issue, Foreign Minister stressed that the stability of Iraq requires a national consensus without any foreign interventions and from any sectarian or ethnic distinctions but with respect for differences and the emphasis on the rejection of sectarian hegemony, noting that sectarian militia would mean partition.
Dr al-Attiyah said the world still faces the growing phenomenon of terrorism, which recently affected some Gulf states. It aims at taking innocent lives, terrorising people and raising sedition, while targeting the world’s security and stability, he added.
He called for further efforts to eradicate this phenomenon and eliminate its root causes.



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