Hammoud underlines need for peace on two tracks

Lebanese Expatriates and Foreign Minister, Mahmoud Hammoud, has stressed the necessity for launching the peace process on the Lebanese and Syrian tracks at the same time because of the inseparability of the two tracks that ensure the same destiny for both states.

In a statement to reporters following his return to Beirut last night after he participated in Euro-Med Dialogue Conference which was held in the Hague, Hammoud said that Syria has the desire for just and comprehensive peace on the basis of international resolutions which stipulates the Israeli withdrawal to the line of June 4th 1967, and the resumption of the talks from where they were left off.

He added that during the conference, Lebanon's stressed Madrid terms of reference, i.e. land-for-peace formula, and the Beirut Summit Initiative for the year 2002 which determine the mechanism of peace and the Arab rights.

He pointed out that the Syrian and Lebanese delegations stressed at the conference the importance of the European role which is indispensable for the peace process due to the geographical, historical and cultural relations between Europe and Mediterranean neighbors.