PRESS RELEASE
Putin and Trump Call for All Nations To Support Syria
Nov. 11, 2017 (EIRNS)—Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump signed a Joint Statement calling on all countries to build up humanitarian assistance to Syria. Although the Presidents had no formal meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Da Nang, Vietnam on Nov. 10-11, they met briefly several times, and approved this joint statement in which they agreed to the necessity of easing the humanitarian suffering in Syria and called on all the UN member countries to contribute to the effort. The document was prepared by the experts of the two countries and agreed on by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who met earlier in Da Nang today.
The statement reiterated that the conflict in Syria has "no military solution."
The statement also says:
"The Presidents agreed to maintain open military channels of communication between military professionals to help ensure the safety of both U.S. and Russian forces and de-confliction of partnered forces engaged in the fight against ISIS. They confirmed these efforts will be continued until the final defeat of ISIS is achieved."
The Presidents praised
"the successful U.S.-Russia enhanced de-confliction efforts between U.S. and Russian military professionals that have dramatically accelerated ISIS’s losses on the battlefield in recent months....
"They reviewed progress on the ceasefire in southwest Syria that was finalized the last time the two Presidents met in Hamburg, Germany on July 7, 2017,"
their statement read. The two had last had a formal meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg.
They also hailed the Nov. 8 memorandum among the U.S., Russia and Jordan, which "reinforces the success of the ceasefire initiative" in southern Syria.
They agreed the final political settlement should be in the framework of the Geneva process in compliance with the UN Security Council Resolution 2254, and noted the recent statement of Syria’s President Bashar Assad committing to adhere to the Geneva process, the constitutional reform and the elections in compliance with the UNSC Resolution 2254.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Sputnik that the statement was specifically prepared for the meeting in Da Nang.
The Presidents’ statement is posted to the State Department website and on the Kremlin website.
