Shoukry to attend extraordinary meeting of AHLC in Brussels

CAIRO – 29 January 2018: Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry will attend the extraordinary ministerial meeting of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) on Tuesday at Brussels, according to Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid's statement on Monday.

The Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) is a 15-member committee that serves as the principal policy-level coordination mechanism for development assistance to the Palestinian people.

According to the statement, the extraordinary meeting comes within the framework of a European initiative in light of recent developments on the issue of Jerusalem.

The meeting mainly aims at discussing the future of the peace process, how to maintain the unity of the international position towards the Palestinian issue and how to move to re-correct the course and achieve the two-state solution.

The meeting will also discuss ways to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people, and will tackle supporting the Palestinian national institutions to develop their capabilities, enabling them to manage the Gaza Strip.

The meeting will be chaired by Federica Mujerini, EU foreign policy chief, and Norwegian Foreign Minister Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide, with high-level attendance of regional and international parties concerned with the Palestinian issue.


The European Union's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini (Photo by Reuters)

Shoukry’s participation in the meeting comes in light of the Egyptian efforts to support the peace process between the Palestinians and the Israelis, in accordance with the international reference and the establishment of the Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, the statement added.

The statement also pointed out that this meeting comes before holding the Arab League ministerial meeting on Jerusalem in February, which aims to identify the next steps to defend Jerusalem.

In May 2017, the members of the AHLC also met in Brussels and were hosted by EU High Representative Federica Mogherini, and chaired by Norway’s Foreign Minister Børge Brende.


FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he speaks at the White House in Washington, U.S., November 27, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

After US President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in December, all Arab and Islamic leaders rejected the decision, joined by most western and Asian leaders, adding that such a move could ignite violence and bury any hope of resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets to denounce the American decision on Jerusalem in many cities across the world.