PRESIDENTS AL-ASSAD- BRASILIA SPEECH (June 30, 2010)

BRASILIA, (SANA)- His Excellency President Bashar Al-Assad said on Wednesday that Syria has always believed that realizing peace in the Middle East is the only way to achieve security, stability and prosperity, not only in the Middle East, but also in other parts of the world.

 Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his wife held a luncheon in honor of President Al-Assad and Mrs. Asma Al-Assad where the two leaders exchanged speeches, underlining the need to boost cooperation on all levels.

 President Al-Assad pointed out that the Arabs have proven their good intentions and offered the Arab Peace Initiative to achieve permanent and comprehensive peace with Israel, adding that Syria has exerted extensive efforts in cooperation with Turkey to push the peace process forward in addition to the efforts exerted by Brazil in this regard.

 ''All those efforts were always blocked by the Israel rejection of peace and met with more wars, referring to the Israeli aggression on Lebanon in 2006 and the aggression on Gaza in 2008 which claimed the lives of thousands of innocents while the settlement acts continue and the occupied Jerusalem is exposed to attempts of Judaization as well as the latest violation represented by that attack on the Turkish ship which was carrying humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza. All of this proves that Israel is not ready for peace" added President Al-Assad.

 "Coordinating Arab-Latin American efforts in the next stage will help find solutions to our problems and causes, depending on objective vision and far away from delusion and fabricated lies. It is just as what happened in Iraq war and as others' attempts to repeat the same scenario regarding many international issues," President Al-Assad said.

 The President considered this agreement as setting forth the basis to solve the crisis peacefully through dialogue instead of ineffectual sanctions policy

.The President added that Iran has proved its goodwill and restored international confidence in the peaceful nature of its nuclear program, while Israel still boasts of its nuclear arsenal, threatening peace and security in the region.

The President described the Brazilian stances regarding all world issues, especially the issues of the Middle East, as objective.

''The Syrian-Brazilian relations are historic, dating back to the 19th century when the Syrian immigrants established them. They were loyal to the country which hosted them and interacted with its people without relinquishing the heritage of their nation,'' President Al-Assad said.

 President Al-Assad added ''The historic relations between the two countries are a motive to develop economic and political relations''.

President Al-Assad called for increasing trade exchange volume between Syria and Brazil, adding "the current numbers are still modest and we aspire to achieve a remarkable step in all fields and on all levels."

 President Al-Assad stressed that the Arabs will not forget Brazil's stance towards Iraq war in 2003 whose repercussions still exist till now.

 The President said "Syria highly appreciates Brazil and Turkey's positive role to solve Iranian nuclear issue which resulted in an agreement on exchanging Uranium with Western countries using Turkish territories. Iran proved its goodwill."

 "This visit will help establish a direct maritime route between the two countries… There is also a study on the possible signing of a free trade zone between Syria and countries of Mercosur that could boost bilateral relations between Syria, Brazil and Latin American countries," the President added.

 President Al-Assad said Syria will continue working for achieving just and comprehensive peace based on the international legitimacy resolutions till the restoration of all its rights, particularly the occupied Syrian Golan

. The president added that Syria depends on the Brazilian role at the international forums to support our causes. At the same time, we support Brazil's right to obtain a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. We consider this as a correct step in the project of reforming the United Nations and getting rid of the uni-polarism policy to move towards a more fair multi-polar international system which respects the international law and international relations.

For his part, President Lula da Silva welcomed President Al-Assad and the accompanying delegation, saying that President al-Assad's visit to Brazil was the first visit of Syria's President to the country.

The Brazilian President added that Syria has enriched the composition of the Brazilian nation as Syrian citizens had started to travel to Brazil more than 130 years ago, crossing the seas to find jobs as their number amounted to 1, 5 millions at the be ginning, and they endowed the country with their cultural heritage, and now some of them are engineers, artists and movie makers.

President Lula da Silva considered that President al-Assad's visit to Brazil has multi dimensions as it contributes to exchanging expertise, signing practical agreements and opening new domains and opportunities for increasing investments and developing relations between the two countries in an adequate, commercial, democratic and balanced way in addition to establishing strong ties between Brasilia and Damascus, referring to his visit to Damascus in 2003.

The President expressed hope that the relations with the Arab world and Latin American countries would be further enhanced to reach a complete coordination and joint work for establishing a better world.

On the crisis of the Middle East, President Lula da Silva said "The inhabitants of this region must not remain subjected to this way of living based on the loser and the winner, but they must live in peace and accord."

The President indicated that it was not by chance that his visit to Damascus was his first visit to the Middle East, underlining that Syria is a country that couldn't be excluded when taking any decision, indicating to the cooperation binding his country with Syria and Lebanon since 2006

. President Lula da Silva called for finding more just basis for solving the conflict in the Middle East, voicing his country's support for any peace initiative that would lead to the restoration of the occupied Syrian Golan and the establishment of a viable, independent and secured Palestinian state whose citizens live with dignity, adding that Brazil cooperates with Syria for achieving these goals and for helping the Palestinians.

President Lula da Silva said his country condemns the Israeli blockade on Gaza as it condemned terrorism, adding that the blockade does not lead to peace.

He described the Israeli attack on Freedom Flotilla which was en route to Gaza in a humanitarian mission to break the siege as 'inhumane'.

The Brazilian President said his country is ready to contribute in the efforts to break the siege and offer construction materials for the people of Gaza to build schools and projects needed by the residents.

President Lula da Silva thanked Syria for what it offered to Brazil, wishing it further progress.