Foreign and Expatriates Minister, Fayssal Mikdad, during his speech at the Ministerial Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) held in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, said the wills of our countries have met, since the conferences of Bandung and Belgrade, for a more secure world where peace, justice, solidarity and cooperation prevail based upon respecting the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity of the countries and equality among them and non-interference in their internal affairs.
Dr. Mikdad congratulated the friendly country of Azerbaijan on the successful hosting of the activities of this important meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Non-Aligned Movement countries under the motto “United and steadfast in confronting emerging challenges”.
He stressed that the commitment to these principles have enabled our Movement to assume a significant position on the international arena, stressing that nowadays the need to maintain that position and enhancing it is increasing as we need to show commitment to those principles in facing the challenges which have emerged due to the policies of hegemony and the pressures put by some western countries.
Dr. Mikdad thanked the Movement’s member-states which stood by Syria and extended aid and support to the Syrian people following the disaster of the devastated earthquake which struck the country on Feb. 6 and left behind thousands of victims and destroyed many homes, infrastructure and service facilities.
“Syria looks forwards the NAM’s support for its great exerted efforts to promote the humanitarian situation and push forwards the wheel of economy and achieve earlier recovery, in a way that contributes to providing vital services needed for the return of the refugees to their homeland, the Foreign Minister went on to say.
Dr. Mikdad added that Syria stresses the need for unifying efforts to address the scourge of terrorism that the Syrians have suffered from over the last years and paying dearly in confronting it, not only in defending Syria, but also the international peace and security and the values of human civilization.
Dr. Mikdad said “Syria condemns the policies of blockade and collective punishment of the peoples represented by illegitimate unilateral coercive measures,” calling on the Movement’s member states to strengthen and intensify their efforts for the immediate, complete and unconditioned lifting of those measures to end the human suffering that affects many countries of the Movement and harms the security and stability of their peoples.
He added that the Israeli occupation of the Arab lands in Syria, Palestine and Lebanon continues, at the time when the systematic and repeated aggressions of the Israeli occupation authorities on the Palestinian people and the Syrian citizens in the occupied Syrian Golan, also continue along with it, adding that the war crimes and the crimes against humanity which Israel is perpetrating in Jenin Camp and against our people in Golan, are but an evidence of the Israeli brutal practices which deserve condemnation and collective move against them.
Syria condemns all Israeli practices and rejects any measure that aims at targeting the legal, geographical and demographical status of the occupied Syrian Golan, and stresses its right to restore the occupied Golan till the line of June 4, 1967 according to the UN relevant resolutions, particularly the resolutions No. 242, 338 and 497, Dr. Mikdad said, indicating that Syria confirms its intention to end any foreign illegitimate military presence on its land.
Concluding his speech, Dr. Mikdad congratulated Uganda on taking over the upcoming leadership of the Non-Aligned Movement, expressing Syria’s aspiration to participate in Kampala Summit by the beginning of the next year.
Source: Syrian Arab News Agency