MOSCOW, March 24. /TASS/. The Middle East Quartet (Russia, the United States, the United Nations and the European Union) have had a videoconference and agreed to back Moscow’s initiative to discuss conditions for a ministerial meeting.
"The members supported Russia’s proposal to work out parameters of a ministerial meeting of the quartet and agreed to continue regularly exchanging opinions," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday following the talks on Tuesday.
The parties discussed the current situation in the region, including preparations for the Palestinian elections, social, economic and epidemiological situation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip at the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic. "The need to restart direct talks between Israel and Palestine with a view to open up political prospects of a peace process as well as resolve fundamental issues of a final statis in accordance with the internationally recognized legal basis that stipulates establishment of two states, Palestine and Israel, coexisting in peace and security. The inadmissible nature of unilateral steps that undermine the concept of the two-state settlement," the diplomatic agency underlined.
Moreover, the conference members reaffirmed the unique nature of the Quartet as the only mechanism of accompanying the Middle Eastern settlement approved by UN Security Council resolutions. Following the videoconference, the parties agreed a joint statement that summed up the main points of the consultations.
Russia was represented at the meeting by the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Envoy for the Middle East Settlement Vladimir Safronkov.