UNITED NATIONS, September 28. /TASS/. The Russian concept of ensuring peace and cooperation in the Persian Gulf is gaining more and more support in the region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters on the sidelines of the 74th UN General Assembly.
"The fact that more and more Persian Gulf nations, naturally including Arab countries, start thinking about ways to de-escalate the situation, attests to the fact that the ideas that we promote will gain support in this or that form," Lavrov said during a news conference devoted to results of his work at the General Assembly.
"They are very simple: to sit at the negotiating table and, instead of making claims via media and megaphones, to put all those concerns on table and start considering them in a businesslike manner, which is not intended to please some kind of public," he said during a news conference devoted to results of his work at the General Assembly.
According to the minister, the essence of the Russian concept is to "use the experience of other regions, in particular Europe, where at some point the process of security and cooperation was launched, which eventually led to the signing of the Helsinki Final Act and the adoption of many top-level declarations," including the 1999 Charter for European Security and the Platform for Co-operative Security.
"These documents introduce the principles of dialogue, mutual respect for each other’s interests, readiness to discuss concerns and, most importantly, to avoid measures that would be detrimental to others, so that no one could strengthen own security by damaging the security of others," Lavrov said. "As a matter of fact, this logic makes the basis of our Persian Gulf security concept, which we put forward long ago, when the escalation that we are witnessing now could have been prevented."
Russia’s top diplomat expressed his regret by the fact that "at that point, not all Persian Gulf littoral states agreed to act proactively, saying that the idea is good and should be examined, but let’s wait for it to ripe."
"It looks like it is overripe now," he continued. "I hope that this process would eventually begin at some point."
In his opinion, apart from Gulf nations, other sides should take part in the process as assisting parties, such "as the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the European Union, which also demonstrates interest to this region of the world."
"Later, if this process starts to take shape, those approaches could be expanded to other countries of the Middle East and North Africa, where the need for a reliable and inclusive security system is becoming more and more tangible.".