Mr. Mikdad insisted that “relations between the two brotherly countries exist and will continue to exist…”
Faisal Mikdad, head of Syrian diplomacy, begins a visit to Algeria and Tunisia as part of a global movement to revive diplomatic relations in the Arab world, more than a decade after his country was isolated worldwide due to President Bashar al-Assad’s brutal crackdown on mass protests.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs was welcomed Saturday at Algiers airport by his counterpart Ahmed Attaf. In remarks broadcast by Algerian public television, Mr. Mikdad insisted on the fact that “the relations between the two brotherly countries exist and will continue to exist… beyond the vicissitudes of the situation”. “My visit will be an opportunity for discussions between the two countries on the latest developments in the region. We must strengthen this bilateral relationship,” he added.
Diplomats from several Arab countries meeting in Saudi Arabia to discuss relations with Syria agreed that the region should play a “leading role” in resolving the Syrian crisis, Riyadh announced on Saturday.
Saudi Arabia hosted a meeting of Arab countries in Jeddah (west) on Friday evening after more than a decade of diplomatic isolation from the regime of Bashar al-Assad and in full relaxation between Riyadh and Tehran. The heads of diplomacy of the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates), as well as their Egyptian, Iraqi and Jordanian counterparts discussed the importance for Arab countries to “play a leading role in initiatives aimed at ending the crisis” in Syria, according to a press release from the Saudi Foreign Ministry released on Saturday.
