BARCELONA– Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Riyad Al-Malki, held separate meetings today in Barcelona with the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, his Spanish counterpart, Jose Manuel Albares, his Slovenian counterpart, Tanja Fajon, and the Irish Minister of State for Community Development, Joe O’Brien.
The meetings were held on the sidelines of the Seventh Regional Forum of the Union for the Mediterranean, held in Barcelona, Spain.
During their meeting, Al-Maliki briefed Borrell on the latest developments in the situation in occupied Palestine in light of the Israeli occupation’s escalation of attacks against Palestinians across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
In turn, Borrell presented a vision to permanently regulate the relationship between the European Union and the State of Palestine, and to resume European-Palestinian consultations to reach a full Palestinian-European partnership agreement.
Borrell stressed that the budget allocated by the European Union for the State of Palestine for the year 2022 will be spent on a timely manner without any delay, and that the bloc will do its utmost to focus on the Palestinian file through consultations with Arab and European countries for this purpose.
During his meeting with his Spanish counterpart, Al-Maliki called on the Spanish Kingdom to work on approving European policies towards the Palestinian cause, stressing the importance of full partnership between the State of Palestine and the EU.
Al-Malki discussed the issue of Spain’s abstention from voting on the resolution of the Fourth Committee of the United Nations on the nature of the Israeli occupation in the Palestinian territories. He also called on it to recognize the State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Meantime, Al-Maliki briefed his Slovenian counterpart of the situation in Palestine and the violations that the Palestinian people are subjected to, including killings, destruction, land grabs, and daily provocations by the Israeli occupation and settlers.
Al-Maliki called on his Slovenian counterpart to take actual, real steps to change the situation in Palestine, and not be satisfied with statements about their commitment to the EU position to achieving peace on the principle of a two-state solution.
Source: Palestine News and Information Agency