Speaking during a UN debate in New York on Wednesday, Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said the international community had a duty to find a way of bringing back peace and stability to the Middle East.
“It is our common responsibility and moral obligation to find the way to end the suffering of civilians and bring back peace and stability to the region,” Czaputowicz said at the UN Security Council debate on the Middle East, as quoted by the Polish foreign ministry.
Tuesday's debate was among the highlights of Poland’s turn at the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council in August.
Poland’s Czaputowicz told reporters after the debate—at a joint news conference with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo—that the aim was to "provide a meaningful forum to exchange views" by both UN Security Council members and countries from the region.
Czaputowicz told reporters in Warsaw last month that his country would organise several high-profile events during its month-long stint at the helm of the council.
These included a high-level briefing on humanitarian law on August 13, alongside Tuesday's debate on challenges to peace and security in the Middle East.
Poland's top diplomat is due to lead a UN debate on religious freedom in New York on Thursday.
Poland on January 1, 2018 became a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for a two-year term that ends on December 31, 2019.
Poland held the rotating presidency of the 15-member council in May last year.
The country again took over at the helm of the council on August 1.
Poland in February hosted an international conference on the Middle East at which foreign ministers and senior officials from 63 nations discussed issues such as missile proliferation, energy security, emerging cyber-based threats, counterterrorism, migration crises and humanitarian aid.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said at the time that his country was “committed to play its role in addressing refugee and humanitarian challenges, but most of all peace challenges in the Middle East.”
Morawiecki hailed the two-day gathering a “huge step in promoting a future of peace and security” in that conflict-ridden region.
(gs/pk)
Source: IAR