Russian President's Special Representative for the Middle East and Africa and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and the Chinese government's Special Envoy for the Middle East Zhai Jun agreed in a phone conversation on Friday to continue stepping up efforts on the Palestinian-Israeli settlement.
"The focus of Moscow and Beijing on further stepping up efforts on the Middle East settlement, including within the framework of bilateral coordination and in the BRICS format, was confirmed," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Smolensk Square noted that the sides welcomed the agreements reached on the night of May 21 on a cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian armed groups in the Gaza Strip. "The hope was expressed that the cessation of hostilities would be observed and have a long-term character, creating conditions for solving humanitarian problems and restoring the destroyed infrastructure. The importance of establishing a sustainable Palestinian-Israeli negotiation process as soon as possible in order to reach a resolution on all final status issues in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions was emphasized," the diplomatic office noted.
The conversation was held by prior arrangement.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Creative Commons
Based on materials from TASS