21 December 2016•Update: 21 December 2016
CAIRO
The Arab League and EU on Tuesday called for joint efforts to prevent and fight terrorism during a ministerial meeting in the Egyptian capital Cairo.
The 4th meeting between Arab and EU foreign ministers was attended by EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Abul-Gheit.
Addressing the meeting, Mogherini condemned recent terrorist attacks in Egypt, Jordan and Germany and the assassination of the Russian ambassador to Turkey.
“Regional cooperation is not only the best, but possibly the only way we have to address the crises we all face in our region,” she said.
Mogherini said raging conflicts in Libya, Syria and Yemen have a direct impact on the EU. “Stronger regional cooperation is the key to ending all the current crises,” she said.
“The European Union has a direct stake in the stability and the security and the prosperity of the entire Middle East. We are ready to support peace with all our tools – though diplomacy, through humanitarian aid, through trade and development cooperation,” she said.
Abul-Gheit, for his part, underlined the importance of bolstering Arab-European cooperation.
He went on to call on the Arab and European sides to mobilize efforts to reach a political solution to the six-year conflict in Syria.
