03 March 2003 00:00
ON RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN'S MESSAGE TO PARTICIPANTS OF THE CONFERENCE OF HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT OF MEMBER COUNTRIES OF THE LEAGUE OF ARAB STATES
2003/03/01-1
Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, sent a message to the participants of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of Member Countries of the League of Arab States.
Following is the full text of the message:
"I am glad to be able to send greetings and good wishes to all the participants of the Arab Summit.
"Your meeting is being held in arduous political conditions. The situation in the Middle East is becoming ever more tense. It is needless to say that the circumstances surrounding Iraq, for the consideration of which you have urgently gathered in Egypt, are worrying not only the countries and peoples of the region, but also the world as a whole.
"In the last few months as a result of the persistent efforts of the international community favorable conditions have been created in order to definitively close the matter of Iraq's potential of WMDs and their delivery means. The inspector teams from UNMOVIC and IAEA, working in Iraq, on the whole have fairly successfully been performing the mission entrusted to them by the United Nations Security Council. Neither can we fail to note the Iraqi side's readiness to cooperate with the international inspectors in a constructive manner. Taking this into account, we consider it necessary to continue the mission of UNMOVIC and IAEA in Iraq, and if required, then also take additional measures to enhance their expert-technical potential. This entire range of problems can and must be solved within the framework of the work of the Security Council, which, in our firm conviction, is called upon to play the central role in the process of Iraqi settlement.
"I am confident that the Arab world, just as Russia, is interested in a solution of the Iraq problem being found without the use of force, in the context of the full implementation of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions. Only thus is it possible to avoid the extremely adverse military-political, economic and humanitarian consequences that a new armed conflict in the region can entail.
"The situation around Iraq, however tense, should not push into the background the principal old Middle East conflict - Arab-Israeli - or serve as an excuse to defer its solution, particularly since, in our conviction, the speediest possible launching of a mechanism for the settlement of relations between Israel and the Arabs, above all the Palestinians, will establish a more favorable context for the search of a political solution of the Iraq crisis as well.
"Russia favors strongly a settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict which would be based on Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, the Madrid principles, above all the "land for peace" formula," the existing agreements and understandings, as well as UNSCR 1397, presupposing the creation of a viable and sovereign state of Palestine, coexisting side by side with Israel within secure and recognized borders. As an integral element of the international legal basis for an Arab-Israeli settlement, we regard also the initiative of Saudi Arabia endorsed at the Arab Beirut summit held in March 2002.
"The way for that settlement is outlined in the Road Map drafted by the Quartet of international mediators, which Russia considers it vital to launch in the near future.
"I am confident that the decisions which you will adopt at the end of the summit, in their significance, will correspond to the scale of the events which the Middle East is today going through.
"I am also convinced that it is in our common interest to continue and strengthen the traditional friendship and cooperation which characterize relations between Russia and Arab countries."
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