Abdullah hopeful of positive outcome from Astana, Geneva talks

SHARJAH / WAM

HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, expressed his hope that efforts being made by Russia, Saudi Arabia and Egypt regarding Astana and Geneva negotiations on the Syrian crisis would yield fruits.
“To return to the previous situation in Syria, we need a two-pronged solution: a political one, and the other calls for exiting of parties that seek to undermine the sovereignty and prestige of the Syrian state and here I am speaking frankly and clearly about Iran and Turkey,” HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed said during a joint press conference with visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday.
“If Iran and Turkey continued to pursue the same policy and the historic, colonial or rivalry perspective towards Arab issues, such a situation would continue whether in Syria or other countries,” he said. He stated that UAE-Russia ties were evolving steadily with two-way trade exchange reaching US$2.1 billion last year.
“We expect bilateral co-operation to further expand driven by more tourists coming to the UAE. Last year, we welcomed 350,000 Russian visitors. The UAE is currently hosting 16,000 Russian residents,” he added.
He told reporters that talks between His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and Lavrov were important and provided an opportunity to discuss bilateral relations as well as a wide range of regional and international issues of common concern.
“The meeting offered an ideal opportunity to explore the possibilities of enhancing joint co-operation in political, economic, military, security and cultural spheres as well as the latest developments in Yemen, Syria and Libya,” he said.
In a reply to a question about North Korea, he said, the UAE affirms the importance of returning to negotiations between North Korea and neighbouring states. This escalating situation between North Korea on one side and Japan and South Korea on the other side should not continue as the former continues to violate United Nations Security Council resolutions.
“It is impossible to have a non-nuclear proliferation policy in a region and a different policy in another region,” he noted, emphasising that he agrees with Lavrov about the need for a peaceful solution to the issue without compromising the sovereignty of any state.
Speaking about the Syrian crisis, the UAE minister termed the Riyadh meetings with the attendance of delegates from Cairo and Moscow as “important” and commended efforts made by the countries to convince these delegates to positively participate. However, he said that “co-ordination of stances needs more time.”
“The call made by the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, for the Syrian opposition factions to unify their ranks is part of the success of the Astana and Geneva tracks. We ask them all to advance towards this path,” he said.