24/02/2014 16:00
Syrian Foreign Ministry: We will continue cooperation with UN
Syria’s Foreign and Expatriates Ministry reiterated that it will continue cooperation with the UN in securing and indiscriminately delivering humanitarian aid to the people affected by the crisis in all the Syrian provinces, in light of the resolution adopted by the UN Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Syria on Saturday, SANA reported.
The Ministry stressed in a statement issued Sunday its readiness to cooperate with the UN Resident Coordinator and the international organizations operating in the humanitarian field in Syria to get to agree on the mechanisms to implement the Security Council resolution no. 2139 on the basis of respecting the principles of the UN Charter, the rules of the international law and the main principles regulating humanitarian work.
The Ministry highlighted that on top of those principles and rules are respecting the national sovereignty and the role of the state in Syria and the principles of neutrality and integrity as well as not politicizing the issue of humanitarian aid.
The Ministry’s statement asserted that the Syrian government has always worked on performing its duties of providing the basic requirements to its citizens and for that end it has cooperated with the UN and other international organizations.
It added that the government’s cooperation with the international organizations has been through a chain of successive plans agreed upon since 2012 to respond to the humanitarian needs of the people affected by the crisis, the latest of which is the response plan of 2014 that was approved last December.
The Foreign and Expatriates Ministry affirmed in its statement that tackling the humanitarian crisis in Syria demands dealing with its roots and the factors causing its aggravation, on top being combating the foreign-backed terrorism and lifting the unilateral sanctions imposed on Syria by the US, the EU and other countries.
“In this context, Syria considers that the Security Council’s admission of the escalated al-Qaeda-linked takfiri terrorism and the call upon the Council to combat and conquer this terrorism is a step towards the right direction which Syria looks forward to build on with more steps,” said the Ministry’s statement.