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Foreign Minister Westerwelle commenting on the Action Group for Syria: Russia must exert its influence in Damascus
Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle today (1 July) issued the following statement in Berlin on the outcome of the talks between Kofi Annan and the foreign ministers of the Action Group for Syria in Geneva:
The risk of the situation in Syria escalating further and the crisis spreading to more countries in the region has become even greater in the last few days.
I therefore welcome Kofi Annan’s continued commitment to ending the violence in Syria and launching a process of political transition.
Germany firmly backs this course.
Yesterday’s meeting of the Action Group for Syria in Geneva demonstrated the international community’s determination to find a political solution to the conflict in Syria. To this end, the Group established the relevant parameters on the basis of Kofi Annan’s six-point plan.
We now hope that Russia will exert its influence in Syria in order to end the violence and to make a credible negotiation process possible.
The representatives of the five permanent members of the Security Council (China, France, the United Kingdom, Russia and the US) as well as Qatar, Kuwait and Turkey met in Geneva yesterday at the invitation of Kofi Annan.
