Source: CCTV news client
Algerian Foreign Minister Ramallah arrived in Syria on the 24th for a two-day working visit in preparation for the 31st Arab League summit to be held in Algeria in early November this year. On the 25th, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Syrian Foreign Minister Mekdad met with Ramallah respectively. At a joint press conference with Mekdad, Ramallah responded to concerns about Syria's return to the Arab League.
During the talks, the two sides exchanged views on improving the mechanism of joint Arab action and jointly addressing the difficulties and challenges faced by Arab countries.
Syrian Foreign Minister Mekdad: Syria's main concern at the moment is to restore an atmosphere of unity among Arab countries, so as to unify their positions and work together to address common challenges.
Ramallah did not give a clear answer to the concern about whether Syria can return to the League of Arab States, but he said that Syria's absence from the Arab League is a loss to the joint Arab action mechanism.
Algerian Foreign Minister Ramallah: If you ask syria in an Arab country if it has a legitimate seat in the Arab League, then everyone's answer is yes. Syria's absence from the Arab League is a loss to the joint Arab action mechanism, and whether there is a way to change the current situation is something that we want to discuss with our brotherly countries on a key basis.
Syria is one of the founding members of the Arab League, and in November 2011, about eight months after the Syrian crisis began, the League announced the suspension of Syria's membership. Subsequently, a number of Arab countries withdrew diplomatic missions in Syria or downgraded diplomatic representatives. As the domestic situation in Syria stabilizes, since last year, a number of Arab countries, including Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, have gradually resumed normal diplomatic relations with Syria.