Sameh Shoukry, Members of Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee Meet Macron in Paris

The Ministerial Committee assigned by the Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit, headed by Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia, met with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Wednesday.

The meeting was attended by French Minister of Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna and members of the Ministerial Committee, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, Sameh Shoukry; the Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan; the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriate Affairs of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Ayman Safadi;  the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the State of Palestine, Riad Malki; the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkiye, Hakan Fidan; the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, Retno Marsudi; the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Geoffrey Onyeama; and the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit.

The meeting welcomed the Egyptian-Qatari-American mediation efforts, resulting in an agreement for a humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The timing of its commencement will be announced within 24 hours and it will last for four days, with the possibility of an extension.

The committee emphasized the necessity of building on the humanitarian truce toward a complete and sustainable ceasefire as soon as possible and the importance of the Security Council and the international community taking effective and urgent measures for a complete ceasefire in the Gaza Strip..

They also highlighted the significance of securing safe paths for the delivery of humanitarian aid, food, water, fuel, and electricity to Gaza. 

 The committee highlighted the need to enable the Palestinian people to achieve their legitimate rights in establishing an independent and sovereign Palestinian state along the lines of June 4, 1967, with its capital in East Jerusalem.

 Additionally, they also called on the French Republic to play a balanced role in line with international and humanitarian laws to achieve an immediate and complete ceasefire and to implement all relevant international resolutions.

Paris is the fourth stop of the tour of the members of the Islamic Ministerial Committee, deputed by the Arab and Islamic Summit held in Riyadh on November 11 to undertake a high-level diplomatic mission to end the conflict in Gaza.

The extraordinary joint Arab-Islamic Summit issued a resolution that tasked the foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, Turkey, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Palestine to initiate immediate international action, on behalf of all member states of the OIC and the Arab League, for this purpose.