Shoukry meets UN envoys to Libya, Syria

CAIRO – 5 November 2018: Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri met on Sunday, Nov. 4 with UN Special Envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame and UN Special Envoy to Syria Stephane de Mistura on the sidelines of the World Youth Forum's second edition held in Sharm El-Sheikh.

The meeting with Salame comes within the framework of ongoing coordination and consultation between the two sides on the latest developments in Libya, discussing ways to reach a lasting and sustainable solution to the crisis in the country, spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ahmed Hafez, said.

Salame was keen to brief Shoukri on UN efforts at the political, security and humanitarian levels to resolve the unstable situation in Libya, Hafez said.

For his part, Shoukri welcomed the UN efforts to deal with the current challenges in Libya, stressing Egypt's firm stance towards providing full support to the people of Libya and the continuation of the Egyptian efforts to push forward the political efforts to resolve the crisis, in a way that ensures the preservation of the unity and independence of the Libyan territory.

Concerning Syria, during his meeting with de Mistura, Shoukri expressed Egypt's appreciation for the efforts exerted by the UN envoy to achieve political settlement in the war-torn country since he took office in July 2014, Hafez said.

Shoukri stressed Egypt's steadfast stance towards supporting Syria to reach a political solution according to the terms of the political settlement agreed upon in Syria.

Hafez concluded his remarks saying that the UN envoy to Syria was keen to inform the foreign minister of his assessment of the latest developments in Syria and the results of consultations held recently at all regional and international levels to advance the political process and resolve the crisis.

De Mistura also stressed the importance of continuing the coordination with Cairo during the coming period until he ends his duties as an envoy to Syria, Hafez added.
The UN envoy to Syria said in October that he will step down at the end of November for family reasons.