Timerman held a meeting with Mahmoud Abbas, Palestine President

Argentina, January 2, 2011

Héctor Timerman, Argentine Foreign Minister welcomed the Palestinian authorities, during the bilateral meeting with the President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Al Malki.

Argentina requested the recognition of a Palestinian state within the boundaries demarcated in 1967, based on negotiations.

Timerman said that “the decision is part of the pursuit of our country to spread the interest in achieving a breakthrough in the field of peace and is inspired by the vocation of coexistence among all peoples, which is the deep conviction of Argentina’s society”.

For his part, Abbas stressed that the only way towards peace is given through direct negotiations, asking for a resolution of the border dispute with Israel.

Moreover, the ministers agreed on the importance of the Summit of South American – Arab Countries (ASPA), which Argentina and Palestine are part-established by the Brasilia Declaration of 2005 – and in February of this year to perform a new Summit of Heads of State in the city of Lima, Peru.

Both foreign ministers mentioned the excellent relations maintained historically by Arab and Jewish communities in our country and stressed them as a model of coexistence.

Finally, Timerman thanked the continued support that the Palestine State has given to the Argentine claim over the Falkland Islands in the Final Declaration, both those arising from the Summit of Brasilia and Doha, as agreed following the meeting of Foreign Ministers in Buenos Aires in February 2008.

Source: Télam