Sayyid Badr receives UN Secretary General

Muscat: Sayyid Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi, Foreign Minister received on Wednesday António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations (UN) and his accompanying delegation, within the context of his current official visit to the Sultanate of Oman.

During the meeting, the two sides underlined the cooperation relations between the Sultanate of Oman and the United Nations and its various bodies. They commended the fruitful partnerships and initiatives, including humanitarian and environmental initiatives and areas of sustainable development, as well as supporting efforts to achieve peace and stability and uphold the values of justice and the international order based on the UN Charter and international law.

They also reviewed the current challenges facing the world, in addition to the catastrophic conditions in the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian territories in light of the ongoing illegal Israeli occupation and practices of random killing and destruction, which violate all international conventions and humanitarian norms and contribute to the exacerbation of human suffering.

Sayyid Badr stressed the need to hold Israel responsible for these practices, with the pressing need to achieve an immediate ceasefire, lift the siege, and allow humanitarian aid to enter without any obstacles. He affirmed that the international community, especially the Security Council, has a major and central responsibility in this context.

The UN Secretary General lauded the tangible role of the Sultanate of Oman in baking peace and stability efforts and bringing viewpoints closer by encouraging regional and international dialogue and understanding.

The two sides stressed that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only be settled through the two-state solution and by ending the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, as well as establishing an independent Palestinian state in accordance with the resolutions of international legitimacy embodied in the relevant Security Council resolutions.

The meeting was attended by Sheikh Khalifa bin Ali Al Harthy, Undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry for Political Affairs and Mohammed Khaled Khairi, Assistant Secretary-General for Middle East, Asia and the Pacific in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, as well as some officials from both sides.