On Results of Arab League Summit in Sharm el-Sheikh

RUSSIAN MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

March 3, 2003

On March 1-2 a summit of heads of state and government of member countries of the League of Arab States, dedicated, for the most part, to discussing the situation around Iraq, took place in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin had addressed a message to its participants, setting forth Russia's approaches towards a settlement of the Iraq problem and of the crisis in Israeli-Palestinian relations.

At the conclusion of the meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh, its participants adopted an outcome document expressing a strong rejection of any military action against Iraq and reaffirming that not one of the states of the Arab world will take part in it.

The Arab heads of state and government appealed for a peaceful resolution of the crisis around Iraq by maximally activating UN mechanisms and allowing the international inspectors additional time for completion of their mission on the territory of that country.

Moscow welcomes the results of the Arab summit, which has shown that the leaders of the Middle East states are firmly and consistently opposed to the origination of a new and extremely dangerous hotbed of confrontation in the region. We have always considered it necessary to fully activate the politico-diplomatic potential of the Arab countries for solving the tasks of Iraqi settlement. In this connection we reaffirm Russia's readiness to cooperate with the LAS member states in order to find a peaceful solution to the Iraq problem.