Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Ayman Safadi, and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, held a round of political consultations covering steps to increase bilateral cooperation, in addition to the regional issues, especially the Palestinian cause and efforts to solve the Syrian crisis.

The two ministers stressed the importance of progress in the bilateral relations, built on the "solid" friendship foundations, under the leadership of the two countries.

Safadi and Lavrov reviewed the steps taken by the two countries to reach wider economic, investment and tourism cooperation, in light of the similar stances announced during the meetings of the Joint Economic Committee that was held in Amman last November.

Broad prospects prevail to increase trade exchange, tourism flow and joint projects in the energy, infrastructure and defense sectors, the two top diplomats affirmed.

They agreed on periodically reviewing the progress level in a bid to advance joint cooperation.

Safadi and Lavrov agreed international legitimacy resolutions should be the framework and the reference to efforts to solve the Palestinian issue on the basis of a two-state solution.

They also affirmed continued consultation and cooperation in efforts to reach a political solution to the Syrian crisis that preserves Syria's unity and cohesion.

"We want just and comprehensive peace, but it will neither be just not comprehensive without ending the occupation and fulfilling the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people according to international legitimacy decisions", Safadi said.

He added: "We will continue to work with our partners in the international community, and certainly with our friends in Russia, in order to find a horizon for real negotiations that will take us towards this solution."

With regard to Syria, Safadi said: "We agree on the need to end this catastrophe and reach a political solution to the crisis. Any political solution must preserve the unity and cohesion of Syria and must restore security and stability to Syria. It also must end terrorism and terrorists so that Syria can regain its status and the conditions are created for the voluntary return of the refugees."

In response to a question about the situation in the Syrian south, Safadi said: "The situation in the south deserves more attention by the international community, as over the past period, attention has been focused on the north-east and west. This is understandable because there is a difficult situation that is worsening, but also in the south, further work must be done to establish stability."

Regarding the Rukban camp on the Jordanian-Syria border, Safadi stressed that Jordan has fulfilled its humanitarian duty towards those living in his camp, which stands on Syrian territory.

But he added that situation was different now, saying: "The residents of Rukban are Syrian citizens on Syrian soil, and opportunities to deliver aid to them from Syria are available, as well as the conditions for their return from the areas from which they came from."

"Our position is that all the residents of Rukban must be allowed to return to their hometowns. This is not the responsibility of Jordan, but rather an international and Syrian responsibility."

Responding to another question, the minister said Jordan wants the southern part of Syrian to enjoy stability, saying no faction has been armed by or through Jordan.

He added: "We dealt with the facts on the ground and our goal has always been to protect that region from the encroachment of terrorist gangs."

He pointed out that Jordan hosts more than 1.3 million Syrians, adding that the Kingdom will continue to work with Russia and all partners in the international community to ensure the voluntary return of the refugees.

Turning to Iraq, Safadi underlined the need to respect the sovereignty of Iraq and support its reconstruction efforts, saying: "Iraq has achieved a major victory that came with great sacrifices on terrorists. Establishing stability in Iraq is a primary requirement to preserve this victory."

Thanking Russia for hosting a round of talks between parties to the Libyan conflict, Safadi emphasized that all must work to ensure that Libya does not become an arena for regional and international conflict or a hotbed for terrorism.

In turn, Lavrov said: "We have paid attention to the necessity of implementing all the decisions taken during the last session of the Joint Committee for Trade and Economic Cooperation that was held last November in Amman. Of course, there are very active relations at the level of the regions of the Russian Federation, at the end of last year the heads of Chechnya and the Republic of Adygea visited Jordan.

"There are very important relationships in the humanitarian field and very extensive contacts. I want to express our deep gratitude to Jordan and His Majesty the King in particular for the attention given to Russian citizens visiting Christian sanctities in Jordan," he said.

He added: "We and our Jordanian friends have a common position regarding the need to find solutions to crises in the Middle East and North Africa. We both see the necessity of respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries in the region, and the need to solve all problems through comprehensive national dialogues, particularly in Syria, Iraq and Libya."

On Syria, he pointed out that: "we highly appreciate Jordan's contribution as an observer to the Astana talks. Together with Jordanian friends, we see that there is no alternative but to eradicate the terrorist threat coming from Syria and other places in the region."

Lavrov said, "Great attention has been paid to dealing with another Syrian issue, which is the necessity of the return of refugees, and of course the number in Jordan is very large. In this regard, we greatly appreciate the joint efforts exerted as part of the Russian-Jordanian Joint Monitoring Center in Amman."

He said that he had discussed Jordanian proposals on the necessity of establishing stability in southern Syria, noting: "We, on our part, support these efforts."

"We have an identical position on the necessity of solving Palestinian-Israeli issue, which was discussed today, and on how to do it. Jordan and Russia have traditionally and continuously adhered to recognized international references for addressing this issue, including relevant UN resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative," Lavrov added.

Lavrov emphasized that all attempts to impose a fait accompli and making unilateral decisions are "unconstructive as evidenced by the response of most countries to the so-called deal of the century presented by American partners."

"We view positively the Jordanian efforts to help find a solution to the Palestinian issue, especially in light of the fact that His Majesty King Abdullah II is the Custodian of holy sites in Jerusalem," Lavrov said.

Lavrov indicated that his country welcomes all effort aimed at forming a government in Iraq, stressing the need not to interfere in Iraq's internal affairs.

He also stressed the need not to interfere in internal affairs in Libya. He said: "We have a common position on the need to find solutions to the Libyan issue, so stability in Libya can only be achieved through comprehensive Libyan dialogue."