'We should work to bring Syria out of this tragedy'

Abu Dhabi - Shaikh Mohammed welcomed Lavrov's visit to the UAE and discussed ways of bolstering ties with Russia.

Security in the region, particularly in Syria, was high on the agenda of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during his two-day visit to the UAE.
"We held a detailed discussion on the situation," said Lavrov, after his meetings with His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Foreign Minister. "The situation in the Middle East and North Africa remains very tense as a result of an unprecedented surge of the terrorism threat," he added.
Russia, an ally of President Bashar Al Assad, has said it agrees with the decision of opposition groups Jaish Al Islam and Ahrar Al Sham to take part in the UN peace talks in Geneva. "This does not mean that we acknowledge them as two legitimate partners in the negotiations," stressed Lavrov. He further insisted that Russia wanted to fight terrorism only in the framework of the UN resolution, which must be fully implemented. "We look at the best possible means to carry out negotiations in Geneva, but it depends on the intentions of all Syrian parties," he said. Shaikh Abdullah noted that "we should remember that we have reached this point for several reasons. There had been many opportunities to solve the problem earlier. Today, the situation is more complicated and the number of casualties have increased dramatically".
"We have to be honest; we need to work as a collective and look at all the criteria, including political, economic, societal and developmental," he added. "It is the duty of all of us to get the Syrian people out of this tragedy."
The UAE foreign minister stressed that relations between the UAE and Russia are very strong in "many fields", and they are particularly growing in Russian investments in the UAE.
"There are growing opportunities for commercial cooperation. Today we are witnessing double volume increase in trade. Not only that the UAE is the second economic market in the Middle East, but we are also a logistic hub in the region, which can facilitate further growth in trade between our nations," said Shaikh Abdullah.
What he kept quite about was the oil market cooperation, expected to be the main focus on Lavrov's visit to the UAE and Oman (later this week).
Venezuela has asked for a meeting between Opec (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) - which the UAE is part of - and non-Opec, which includes Russia.
The aim of the meeting would be cutting down production in order to create a more competitive market, an idea Russia is believed to be against.
Lavrov stressed on Tuesday that Russia will agree for a meeting if all the other parties involved will.
"In the current situation, it seems to me that we have a common interest in continuing our work in this endeavour, and we are open to further cooperation if there is a desire from everyone to really hold this meeting spoken about by our Venezuelan friends," he said.
"The idea is there and we will be ready to implement it in all forms and aspects that everyone will agree upon," concluded Lavrov.
silvia@khaleejtimes.com

• Abu Dhabi