Global Arab Network | Russian FM to visit Syria amid push for peace

Translate this article to your language:

GANPublications

e-Publications

Add Site to Favorites

Add Page to Favorites

Make Homepage

Share This Page

RSS Feed

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| |

Russian FM to visit Syria amid push for peace

Global Arab Network - - Adam Turner

Friday, 22 May 2009 01:39

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will visit Syria Saturday on Middle East tour that will take him to Lebanon as well. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko announced the visit.

Lavrov arrives on Friday to attend as an observer a ministerial meeting of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which opens on Saturday in the Syrian capital and runs to Monday, they said.

Russia, a member of the Middle East diplomatic quartet and president of the 15-member Security Council for May, has been pressing for years to host an international Middle East peace conference.

The European Union's top peace process negotiator Marc Otte said during a visit to Moscow in April that Russia wanted to hold the conference by year's end and has international backing.

"I am convinced it will happen. I believe it will take place this year, but whether it will be the month of May, June or October, I cannot say," Otte said on April 29.

Russia, a long-time ally of Syria, stressed the "urgency of reaching comprehensive peace in the Middle East" at a Security Council debate on May 11.

Lavrov's visit to Damascus also comes two weeks ahead of a major speech that US President Barack Obama is due to deliver in Egypt, during which he is expected to lay out the framework for a new plan to revive peace talks.

Expectations in the Arab world are that the June 4 speech will present the outlines of a peace plan, including the recognition of Israel by OIC states.

The influential 57-member OIC represents 1.3 billion Muslims around the globe and the Damascus conference will focus on the possibility of setting up an Islamic peace force, the organisation said.

The ministerial meeting will examine "a project for the future role of the organisation in peacekeeping and the resolution of conflicts facing member states," the Jeddah-based OIC said in a statement.

"This project was born of the need in the Muslim world of a peacekeeping force at a time when several conflicts are taking place and member states are important contributors to UN peacekeeping forces," it said.

The meeting will discuss conflicts facing member states such as Sudan and Somalia, as well as the Palestinian issue, it added. (AFP, AP, QNA)

Global Arab Network

Add comment

The opinions of the authors in articles published are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Global Arab Network
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Published comments are the opinions of private individuals and do not reflect the views of Global Arab Network