Statements by Foreign Minister Steinmeier on the upcoming conference on Syria in Munich

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier gave the following statement to the German newspaper “BILD” on the evening before the conference on Syria in Munich:

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The regional powers, but also Russia, will have to nail their colours to the mast in Munich. Do they want to implement the road map for peace that we agreed in Vienna? Will they do their part and ensure that serious talks on a political solution to the killing in Syria can take place in Geneva?

I will do my utmost in Munich to ensure that the political talks in Geneva continue, that the level of violence is finally reduced in Syria and that humanitarian corridors are set up to provide access to the besieged and surrounded people, who urgently need our help.

In the run-up to the Munich Security Conference, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier gave the following statement to the German Press Agency:

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Our efforts to bring about a peace process for Syria are at a crossroads once again. On the basis of the Vienna agreements, we managed to bring representatives of Assad’s regime and the Syrian opposition to the negotiating table in Geneva in January. But even the very first days of the talks showed clearly that without pressure and active help from regional and international powers, there will be no progress whatsoever in Geneva. How can it be possible to seek compromises around the negotiating table, while at the same time increasingly brutal warfare is raging in Aleppo and other places?

We now have the chance once again in Munich to remind all those involved of their responsibility to make a firm commitment, through words and actions, to the road map that was agreed in Vienna and endorsed by the Security Council.

We now need concrete agreements in order to at least reduce the level of violence and improve humanitarian access as soon as possible so that this terrible civil war does not claim even more lives.

We must prevent everything we achieved in the past months from being rendered null and void and ensure that we do not enter a new phase of unchecked escalation. It must be clear to everyone what consequences this would have for millions of people in Syria.

from
http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/EN/Infoservice/Presse/Meldungen/2016/160211_Syrien.html?nn=479796