Catherine Ashton upon arrival at the Foreign Affairs Council: "We have to continue the pressure on Syria."

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Brussels, 23 July 2012

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Remarks by High Representative Catherine Ashton upon arrival

at the Foreign Affairs Council, Brussels, 23 July 20121

It's a very busy Foreign Affairs Council this morning.

Let me begin by expressing my deepest sympathy to the victims of the terrorist attack in Bulgaria.

We will hear from the Bulgarian Foreign Minister when he arrives about the latest situation there.

Of course dominating the agenda will be Syria. A terrible situation is evolving there and we have

great concern for the people of Syria.

We will be continuing with our sanctions. You will see that we've introduced the new ability to be

able to stop and examine what is actually being sent to Syria, to examine the cargo in ships and

aircraft. I hope that will be really effective. It is important to carry on with sanctions, and it is very

important to carry on with the political process.

As you know, we have been absolutely determined in our support for all the efforts that Kofi Annan

has been making in what is an increasingly difficult situation. I was glad to see that the mission has

been given an additional 30 days for the UN to continue trying to do something on the ground.

I was in the meetings in Geneva and then at the Friends of Syria meeting in Paris, I talked

with my Russian and Chinese counterparts recently. I think what's very clear is that we have to

continue the pressure on Syria, we have to continue to be very clear in our belief that President

Assad has to step aside, that he needs to now consider the future for the Syrian people and consider

how best they can have the kind of future that we believe is right for Syria, and that's a future of

democracy and freedom.

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We want to appeal again to the opposition groups to come together more closely, to work together

as effectively as they can, to provide the platform for transition, and for there to be the end of

violence. That requires a concerted effort for everyone to send the same messages and to be

absolutely determined.

The violence has to stop and in so doing we also have to work closely to look after the people who

are escaping and fleeing from the terrible situation in Syria. We are doing this work together with

the countries in the neighbouring region, especially those countries who are now having large

numbers of refugees coming over the border: Turkey and Lebanon, and Jordan and Iraq.

We will also be thinking about the other countries of the Southern Neighbourhood. In particular we

will look at the elections in Libya - I was very pleased that 16.5% of women have been elected so

far in the party elections.

And I will be reporting on my successful meeting with President Morsi in Egypt at the end of last

week. I was very impressed by what he said: that he believed in democracy, that he wanted to see

the future of his country and we will continue to work with him on that basis and work with the

people of Egypt for a successful future; we talked about how the EU can support Egypt both

politically and economically in the future. I was also very pleased to participate in the Women's

Conference in Egypt where we were offered 4 million euros in additional support for women; our

support for the women of Egypt is absolutely clear. We believe that they are 50% of the population

not just in name but also in talent and in ability. And when I have said to president Morsi that I

thought it was important to be inclusive of all people: women, religious groups and so on, he was

very clear that this was what he would wish to see as well.

In Cairo last week I was also happy to meet Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Araby to

discuss the situation in Syria. The Arab League are debating a number of different options and we'll

all have to wait and see what comes out of the latest deliberation. We've worked really closely with

the Arab League throughout, it is important to recognize the important role that they have to play in

this, and the EU and the Arab League along with other regional organizations have done a lot and

will continue to do a lot, because once this is over there is going to be an awful lot to do to make

sure that Syria can develop and grow properly.

We'll be talking too about Africa: the situation in the Sahel, our concerns about what's happening in

the North of Mali, the efforts that we are putting into our mission in Niger and to continue with the

comprehensive approach to try to support the people of the Sahel in very difficult circumstances.

We will discuss Somalia too, as we move towards the end of the transitional period on 20th August.

We will underline our comprehensive approach on the Horn of Africa, the work that we're doing

with both Atalanta to support shipping, to support the World Food Programme and continue my

work to support people on the ground and to hope to see Somalia move forward.

And I'm very pleased that we've been able to reach an agreement on Zimbabwe. That's very

important for me, and I was delighted to see that the UK was able to join in with that and I thank

them for that.

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The situation in Sudan and South Sudan is also extremely difficult and I am very worried about

what is happening in the regions of Khordofan and Blue Nile and the continuing violence. We have

begun to see is the prospect of the two leaders getting together: I hope that we will see a second

meeting and I hope they continue to try working together because I am worried about not only the

economy in the south but the economy in the north and of course the need to make sure that the

fighting especially on the borders stops.

And then later on this afternoon the countries of the Eastern Partnership will join us for our

Ministerial Meeting which is an opportunity to look at progress being made with them in

the road map that we've established in Warsaw.

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تصريحات الممثلة العليا كاثرين أشتون لدى وصولها إلى مجلس الشؤون الخارجية، تؤكد ضرورة مواصلة الضغط على سورية وأن على الأسد التنحي، وتعلن إجراءات تفتيش الشحنات المتجهة إلى سورية.