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World community should help Arab world carry out reforms – Lavrov

The priority of the international community is to do so that the reforms in the Arab world make more benefits than losses

UNITED NATIONS ORGANISATION, March 12 (Itar-Tass) — Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the international community should do that the reforms in the Arab world make more benefits than losses.

Speaking at a session of the U.N. Security Council devoted to the Middle East and North Africa on Monday, Lavrov said, “The turbulent processes in the Middle East and North Africa prove the peoples’ strive for living in best conditions and having more possibilities for their expression of will, and carrying out economic and social reforms. These processes are far from being completed. It is rather difficult to assess them ambiguously because often they are accompanied by painful civilised, ethnic, confessional and political splits, and create risks for regional stability.”

The priority of the international community is to do so that the reforms in the Arab world make more benefits than losses. “The key task is that the changes should be proceeded by peaceful, democratic means by respecting the freedoms and rights of human beings, the rights of ethnic and religious minorities, including of Christians, of course,” the Russian minister stressed.

“We welcome the development of democratic statehood in Egypt and Tunisia and the efforts by the Libyan Transition Government to normalise the situation in the country, prepare elections and disarm rebels. We provide humanitarian assistance and we are ready to help restore the economy,” Lavrov pointed out.