Jordan remains committed to political solution in Syria — FM

Jordan participated in the international ministerial meeting held in Vienna on Friday to discuss the current situation in Syria and ways to arrive at a political solution.

At the meeting, participants agreed on the fundamentals in pursuance of the 2012 Geneva Communiqué and the need to arrive at a ceasefire.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh re-asserted Jordan's fixed position in support of a political solution that guarantees the safety and unity of Syria with the participation of all components of the Syrian community.

Judeh voiced the Kingdom's continued support of all efforts to reach a political solution to the conflict that will lead to restoring stability in Syria and the voluntary return of displaced Syrians and Syrian refugees to their homeland, stressing the need to counter terrorism as well, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Jordan’s support is in accordance with the fundamentals of the Geneva Communiqué.

Ministers from Jordan, the US, Russia, the UK, Germany, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Iran, Egypt, China, Iraq, Lebanon, Oman, the EU and the UN agreed to reconvene within two weeks to continue discussions.

According to the UN website, the Geneva Communiqué commits parties to the “immediate cessation [of] violence in all its forms; agreed on guidelines and principles for a political transition that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people”.

On Saturday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was “encouraged” by the Vienna talks in bringing together the main outside players in the four-year-old Syria crisis for the first time.

“I am encouraged that the participants have reached a mutual understanding on a number of key issues,” Ban told a press briefing in Geneva after meeting the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peter Maurer, Agence France-Presse reported.

The Syrian regime and the opposition were not represented at the Vienna talks, according to AFP.

Senior diplomats at the gathering sought common ground over a conflict that has claimed a quarter of a million lives and triggered an exodus of refugees to Europe.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said they had agreed that Syria must emerge from the conflict as a unified secular state.

However, he and Lavrov disagreed over whether President Bashar Assad should step down immediately.