Steinmeier thanks Norway for Colombian agreement

Oslo. World Cup qualifier Norway - Germany.Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg (L), Foreign Minister Brende and Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.Photo: Jon Olav Nesvold / NTB scanpix

Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier thanks our Foreign Minister Brende for the work Norway has done in the peace negotiations in Colombia.

– I thank Norway for the peace process and the role you have played, Steinmeier told reporters as he arrived in Oslo on Sunday  for two days of political talks with Brende.

Both the political and economic developments in Europe, Brexit and consequences for European cooperation, migration and the situation in Ukraine, Libya, Israel and Palestine are on the agenda.

But among the most important topics on the table is terror and the war in Syria, according Brende. He hopes for progress in Syria .

The fact that the US and Russia have met on the sidelines during the weekend G20 summit in China, provides a glimmer of hope of reaching a ceasefire, he said.

– A truce could save hundreds of thousands of lives. But there are many complicating factors says Brende, who points out that Germany is heavily involved in the political talks on Syria.

Steinmeier said he is hoping for progress in the coming weeks.

– I hope they manage to consolidate the negotiations which began in Geneva, and opens up for humanitarian aid to Aleppo. This is urgent indeed.
This is the only requirement the Syrian opposition has made for participating in the negotiations in Geneva, he said.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today

 

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