President Aoun: “The Arab summit to be hosted by Algeria is of great importance and there is an urgent need to bring Arabs together”
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President Aoun: “The targets the Arab countries are suffering from require uniting efforts to confront them, starting from defending the rights of the Palestinians to the need to stop the wars that afflict many of our countries”
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President Aoun: “There is no complacency in the war on terrorism and issues of asylum or displacement...Lebanon is paying the heavy price as a result of Syrian displacement and Palestinian asylum”
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Lamamra conveys renewal of President Tebboune’s invitation to President Aoun to visit Algeria: “Lebanon deserves all attention and cooperation due to its leading role in the Arab countries and the world”
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NNA - President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, met the Algerian Foreign Minister, Mr. Ramtane Lamamra, today at the Presidential Palace.
The President asserted that the Arab Summit, to be hosted by Algeria on November 1, is “Of great importance, especially since there is an urgent need to unite the Arabs regarding the crucial issues facing our Arab countries”.
President Aoun also considered that what makes this summit meeting important, "is the size of the serious crises facing our world today and the major challenges, in addition to the targets that the Arab countries suffer from that require uniting efforts to confront them, starting with the central issue, which is the Palestinian cause and defending the rights of the Palestinian people, to the need to stop the wars that afflict many of our countries, and the war on terrorism and issues of asylum or displacement, as our region is witnessing the worst waves of asylum in recent history, and Lebanon is paying the heavy price as a result of Syrian displacement and Palestinian asylum”.
In addition, President Aoun stressed that the relations between Lebanon and Algeria are deep and solid relations of brotherhood, wishing Algeria to help facilitate the export of Lebanese agricultural products such as apples, given the difficult conditions Lebanon is going through, the closure of the land crossings and the great losses incurred by the Lebanese economy.
For his part, Minister Lamamra had conveyed a verbal message from Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, renewing his invitation to visit Algeria.
Lamamra pointed out that Algeria is celebrating this July the sixtieth anniversary of its independence, and the first military parade in 30 years will be held for the occasion.
Minister Lamamra also expressed his happiness for being in Beirut to participate in the meeting of Arab foreign ministers, congratulating on the achievement of the electoral process in Lebanon, "which deserves all attention and cooperation given the leading role it plays in the Arab countries and the world”.
Statement:
After the meeting, Minister Lamamra made the following statement:
"I was honored to meet His Excellency, General Michel Aoun, President of the Republic, where I offered him greetings, appreciation and respect from his friend, President of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
I also received from His Excellency, congratulations and blessings of the Algerian people and President Tebboune on the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the restoration of independence, which will be celebrated on July 5.
We have seized this opportunity to talk about Arab concerns and common challenges, which will be at the top of the agenda of the consultative meeting of Arab foreign ministers that will be held today in your hospitable capital, Beirut.
It also constitutes the content of the ongoing preparations for the Arab summit that will be held in Algeria on the first and second days of next November.
Algeria is preparing for this summit and intensifying its bilateral and collective consultations with other brotherly Arab countries.
His Excellency the President also expressed his sincere wishes to Algeria and the entire Arab nation for success and prosperity for this fateful summit, which is the summit of reunification and lifting challenges collectively and in solidarity.
Questions & Answers:
In response to a question about whether Syria would participate in the Algeria summit, Minister Lamamra said: "As I said, we are in consultations with all Arab parties. Regarding Algeria's position, we, as an Arab country, have known our position for a long time that we did not support suspending Syria's membership in the League of Arab States.
There is no comment on its participation in the League because Syria is a founding member of the League. As for our position as a host country, this is of course linked to consultations, because the goal is consensus in all decisions, big or small. But Syria is certainly at the heart of our concerns. My brother and my colleague, the Syrian Foreign Minister, will visit Algeria”.
----- Presidency Information Office
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