Ashraf AboArafe
Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Secretary-General of the League of Arab States (LAS), received on Thursday, September 14, Catherine Colonna, Minister of Foreign Affairs of France, who is on a visit to Cairo.
Jamal Rushdi, the official spokesman for the Secretary-General, stated that the meeting witnessed in-depth discussions during which the two sides discussed a number of priority regional and international issues and files during the current stage, most notably developments in the situation in the Middle East region, especially those related to the Palestinian issue and the situation in Lebanon, Syria, Libya and Sudan.
The official spokesman explained that the two sides discussed during the meeting developments in the Palestinian issue, where Aboul Gheit warned of the repercussions of the continuation of repressive Israeli practices against the Palestinian people, especially in light of the presence of the most extremist government in the history of Israel, stressing the importance of the role that France can play, given its status. The international community, given the fact that it is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council and in light of its influence in the European Union, is keen to carry out active movements and communications in order to support the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, most notably their right to establish their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and to put pressure on the Israeli side to push it to adhere to the decisions of legitimacy. And stop all unilateral policies that would undermine the two-state solution.
The official spokesman indicated that the Secretary-General discussed with the French Minister the latest developments in the situation related to Syria, as he was keen to inform the Minister of the results of the meeting held by the Syria Contact Group in Cairo last month, stressing the importance of understanding the collective Arab decision to restore Syria to its seat, considering that this represents a way to engage Greater Arab response to dealing with the situation in Syria, which has been going on for twelve years without a solution. Aboul Gheit pointed out the League’s keenness to preserve the depth of Arab-European relations away from any tensions regarding the Syrian file.
The official spokesman also explained that Aboul Gheit also discussed with the French Minister the developments taking place in several other important regional and international issues, including the situation in Libya, where the Secretary-General expressed his aspiration to complete the path of a political solution with Libyan ownership to achieve all the goals of the Libyan people, through holding electoral elections. And agreeing on the legal and constitutional rules that make this possible, stressing at the same time the constants of the Arab position on the necessity of the withdrawal of all foreign forces, mercenaries and foreign fighters from Libyan territory.
On the other hand, the meeting discussed ways to improve the existing institutional dialogue between the Arab League and the European Union, within the framework of seeking to expand the circle of cooperation between the two sides in areas of common interest.
