Capitals (Union)
The Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Jassem Al-Budaiwi, and the High Representative for Security and Foreign Policy in the European Union, Josep Borrell, discussed developments in the situation and stopping the war in Gaza.
The General Secretariat of the Gulf Cooperation Council stated in a statement yesterday that this came during Al Budawi’s reception of Borrell the day before yesterday evening, at the General Secretariat’s headquarters in Riyadh.
She added that the meeting discussed ways to strengthen international and regional efforts aimed at ending the war in Gaza and putting an end to this humanitarian catastrophe. The Secretariat indicated that “the meeting also discussed aspects of the regional security dialogue for senior officials in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and the European Union, which is scheduled to be held on January 24 at the headquarters of the General Secretariat in Riyadh, and the importance of this dialogue in promoting regional peace and stability.”
She explained that the two sides also discussed ways to enhance and develop cooperation between them in various fields and emphasized the importance of collective action to confront current challenges.
In this context, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan discussed with Josep Borrell yesterday the developments of the situation in the Gaza Strip.
The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SPA) stated in a statement that this came during the reception of Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the European High Representative, in the city of Al-Ula, in the north of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The Foreign Ministry explained that the two sides discussed developments in the situation in the Gaza Strip and its surroundings and the efforts made towards them, especially on the humanitarian level, noting that they also reviewed the relations between the Kingdom and the European Union.
In addition, yesterday, the foreign ministers of Italy, France and Britain discussed ways to pressure Israel for a “quick end” to the war and a quick return to the political track to resolve the Palestinian issue. The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a statement that this came in two telephone conversations held by the Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Antonio Taiani, with the Foreign Ministers of Britain, David Cameron, and France, Catherine Colonna, as part of the new contacts being conducted by Rome on the occasion of the start of the Italian presidency of the Group of Seven major industrialized countries (G7). .
The statement indicated that “the tense situation in the Middle East was the first topic that was addressed within the framework of the G7 work coordination, as Tayani proposed to his colleagues to identify joint forms of pressure at the G7 level on the parties concerned to achieve a few goals.”
He said, “The first of these goals is the absolute necessity to immediately reduce the number of Palestinian civilian casualties, while the second goal is to put pressure on the Israeli government to force it to end military operations in order to give a chance to the two-state solution.”
Minister Tayani confirmed, according to the statement, that the G7 countries are in the process of working with the Israeli government to formulate a way to quickly exit the military phase in order to return to diplomacy and politics, stressing “the need to quickly exit this phase and rely on the support of the Arab countries in the region.”
The statement stated that the two phone conversations also addressed the situation in the Red Sea “in a very concrete way,” with Taiani stressing the Italian government’s commitment to the security of maritime lines of communication and the necessity of protecting trade routes linking the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
In this context, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albarez said that his country is concerned about the continuing spiral of violence in the Middle East.
The Spanish minister said in a speech yesterday, during a ceremony held in the Spanish city of Ciudad Real, on the occasion of sending two armored ambulances to Ukraine, that “the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip may expand and reach a much larger regional scope,” expressing his country’s concern about the continued cycle of violence. In the Middle East.
He stressed that “Spain will continue to raise its voice against the killing of thousands of Palestinian civilians,” noting that his country has increased its aid to the Gaza Strip to three times what it was previously.
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