[MEIB Note: The Damascus Declaration was signed in March 1991 by Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria and the United Arab Emirates with the intention of bolstering political, economic and military cooperation among its signatories.]

At the invitation of the Arab Republic of Egypt, the foreign ministers of the Damascus Declaration states held their 17th meeting in Cairo on Sunday and Monday, 1st-2nd Rabi al-Awwal 1421 Hegira, corresponding to 4th-5th June 2000.

The meeting was chaired by His Excellency Amr Musa, the Foreign Minister of the Arab Republic of Egypt, and attended by His Excellency Rashid Abdallah al-Nu'aymi, foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates; His Excellency Shaykh Muhammad Bin-Mubarak Al Khalifah, foreign minister of the State of Bahrain; His Royal Highness Prince Sa'ud al-Faysal, foreign minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; His Excellency Faruq al-Shar'a, foreign minister of the Syrian Arab Republic; His Excellency Yusuf Bin-Alawi Bin-Abdallah, minister of foreign affairs in the Sultanate of Oman; His Excellency Shaykh Hamad Bin-Jasim Bin-Jabr Al Thani, foreign minister of the State of Qatar; and His Excellency Shaykh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jabir al-Sabah, first deputy prime minister and foreign minister of the State of Kuwait. His Excellency Shaykh Jamil Bin-Ibrahim al-Hujaylan, secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council [GCC], also attended the meeting.

His Excellency President Muhammad Husni Mubarak, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, received their highnesses and excellencies the foreign ministers of the Damascus Declaration states on the occasion of their meeting in the Egyptian capital.

The ministers reviewed the development of the Damascus Declaration framework and the efforts made to activate it and use its huge resources in the political, economic, cultural, security and other areas. They reviewed efforts made to surmount difficulties and mobilize all energies to promote relations among the states of the Declaration in all those areas.

The ministers expressed satisfaction with the understanding and accord achieved. They stressed the importance of supporting cooperation and economic relations among them. In this respect, the ministers agreed to hold a new meeting for the Damascus Declaration Experts Committee as soon as possible to determine the executive steps needed to activate relations among their countries in the economic, cultural, scientific and technical areas and to come up with programmes and mechanisms that help expedite the optimal and complete implementation of the executive programme of the agreement on facilitating and promoting trade exchanges among the Arab countries (the great Arab free trade zone). The recommendations of the committee will be presented to the next ministerial meeting of the Damascus Declaration states.

The ministers continued their consultations to accomplish the common Arab action document and the protocol of mutual commitments among the Arab countries within the framework of the Arab League to present them to their governments to be finally approved and deposited with the Arab League.

It was agreed that the chair country will coordinate among the states of the Declaration until the next meeting has been held.

The ministers reviewed the current situation in the Arab region in the light of the recent developments and on the basis of the Arab interest in its comprehensive sense, which goes beyond the border of every individual country. They were guided by the noble principles of the Arab League charter and other Arab agreements and conventions. They noted that the current situation requires strengthening Arab solidarity and activating everything that would augment inter-Arab relations.

In this context, the ministers stressed the importance of supporting and activating the role of the Arab League through sincere, serious and creative work so that it can positively reflect common Arab action.

The ministers discussed the subject of holding a full Arab summit, pointing out the importance of holding this summit and expressing hope that the five-member committee tasked with establishing a mechanism for holding regular Arab summits will complete its work as scheduled.

Proceeding from the resolutions of the Arab summits and Arab League Councils, the latest being the meeting of the Arab foreign ministers in Beirut, and the resolutions that the Arab leaders unanimously adopted to strengthen Arab solidarity and establish a just and comprehensive peace that serves the higher interests of the Arab nation and helps it regain its usurped lands and rights; out of the call for effective Arab moves in the next stage; based on the resolutions of the foreign ministers of the Damascus Declaration states and the need to activate them; and bearing in mind the importance of the Palmyra statement, issued by the foreign ministers of Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia:

1. The ministers extended greetings and appreciation to fraternal Lebanon, government and people, for the victory that was scored thanks to the struggle of the national Lebanese resistance and the government and popular cohesion with it. They viewed this victory as a victory for the resistance, Lebanon, Syria and the Arab nation. The ministers greeted the positions of fraternal Syria and its commitment to supporting Lebanon and the march of national accord among all its sons and groups.

2. The ministers expressed support for the efforts the United Nations is making in south Lebanon to implement Security Council Resolution 425. They called on Israel to evacuate all Lebanese positions to complete the withdrawal from all occupied Lebanese territories. They stressed the need to continue these efforts to drive Israel to implement Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 and to withdraw from the Golan to the 4th June border and from the rest of the occupied Arab territories.

3. The ministers stressed the solidarity of their countries with the Lebanese and Syrian peoples and hailed the special relations and the constant coordination between Syria and Lebanon, which helped achieve national accord in Lebanon and foiled attempts to harm these relations. The ministers also stressed the importance of the parallelism of the Syrian and Lebanese tracks in the peace process.

4. The ministers denounced the increasing threats that Israeli officials are directing against Syria and Lebanon and held Israel responsible for any escalation of tension in the region.

5. The ministers stressed their support for the firm, principled Syrian position and backed Syria's just demands for the restoration of its occupied territories up to the 4th June 1967 border. They called on Israel to demarcate this border without procrastination. They blamed the stalemate on the Syrian track on Israel's intransigence. The ministers saluted the steadfastness of the Syrian citizens in the occupied Syrian Golan and announced their support for this steadfastness.

6. The ministers stressed the need for the Palestinian people to obtain all their national rights under Resolutions 242 and 338, the Madrid terms of reference and the relevant international resolutions. This includes the establishment of the independent Palestinian state with holy Jerusalem as its capital and the Palestinian refugees' right to repatriation based on UN General Assembly Resolution No 194 of 1949.

7. The ministers stressed that security in the region cannot be established without a just and comprehensive peace. They announced that the peace process in the region is being endangered because of Israel's intransigence, refusal to withdraw pursuant to international resolutions and continuation of settlement building in the occupied Arab territories. They called on the two sponsors of the peace process, the European Union and all parties supporting the peace process to intensify their efforts to realize this objective.

8. Pursuant to the relevant resolutions of the Cairo summit of 1996 and the Arab League Council meetings, the ministers stressed their full support for the Arab negotiator on all tracks of negotiations with Israel with a view to achieving a just and comprehensive peace.

The ministers stressed the link and interaction among the elements of peace, security, stability and development. In this respect, they renewed the call for freeing the Middle East of the weapons of mass destruction, primarily nuclear weapons. They stressed the need for all states of the region, without exception, to join the NPT and abide by the rules of international inspection and control. The ministers praised the diplomatic efforts made by Egypt and the Arabs in general in the recent NPT review conference in New York. Those efforts resulted in the conference's final document stressing the importance of and the need for Israel to join the NPT and place all its nuclear installations under the international system of safeguards and control.

Proceeding from the Damascus Declaration states' concern about the State of Kuwait and its stability, the ministers stressed the need for Iraq to observe the implementation of the Security Council resolutions relevant to its occupation of Kuwait, especially with regard to the release of Kuwaiti, Saudi and other prisoners and detainees; the return of Kuwaiti property; to refrain from any provocative or aggressive acts against Kuwait and the neighbouring countries in implementation of Resolution 949 and in a way that proves Iraq's good intentions in words and deeds, and to admit that its invasion of Kuwait was a violation of Arab and international conventions.

The ministers expressed their sympathy for the suffering of the fraternal Iraqi people. They called on the Iraqi government to shoulder its responsibility to remove this suffering. They expressed the need to continue and intensify the implementation of the plan on the distribution of the basic and humanitarian needs to the fraternal Iraqi people as soon as possible based on the oil-for-food formula. They called on the Sanctions Committee to facilitate and speed up response to Iraq's humanitarian requests. As part of these efforts to end the suffering of the Iraqi people, the ministers listened to many ideas, including ideas from the Qatari foreign minister, which he will present to the Gulf Cooperation Council for consideration.

Taking note of Security Council Resolution No. 1284, which is aimed at implementing the sanctions on Iraq [as published], the ministers call on Iraq and the United Nations to cooperate to implement the clauses of this resolution.

The ministers renewed the known and firm positions of their countries on the need to preserve Iraq's independence, unity and territorial integrity.

The ministers stressed the importance of solving the problems that prevent the improvement of Arab-Iranian relations to a level befitting the historic and cultural bonds between the two sides. In this respect, the ministers reaffirm the sovereignty of the United Arab Emirates over its three islands, Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu-Musa. They call on the Iranian government to end its occupation of these three islands. They welcome the efforts of the three-way committee that the Gulf Cooperation Council established to lay down a mechanism for the launching of direct negotiations between the UAE and the Islamic Republic of Iran to resolve the dispute over the three islands. They call on the Iranian government to accept the principle of resolving the dispute over these islands through peaceful means based on the principles of the international law, including serious direct negotiations or recourse to the International Court of Justice, to build mutual confidence, develop cooperation and maintain security and stability in the region.

The ministers stressed their commitment to the Arab agreement on the combat of terrorism and called on the international community to make concerted efforts to confront this phenomenon, which threatens the security and stability of the world, not only that of certain individual countries.

The ministers expressed support for the Egyptian-Libyan initiative on the situation in Sudan and appealed to all Sudanese factions to respond positively to this initiative to achieve security, stability and prosperity in Sudan and preserve the country's unity and independence.

The ministers expressed concern for the renewed clashes between Ethiopia and Eritrea. They appealed to the two sides to work for an immediate cease-fire and to negotiate a peaceful solution to their conflict. The ministers welcomed the efforts that Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Algerian President and current chairman of the OAU, is making in this regard.

The foreign ministers of the Damascus Declaration states expressed thanks and appreciation for the hospitality accorded to them. They praised the arrangements and organization, which played a great role in the success of the meeting. They wished the Arab Republic of Egypt under President Muhammad Husni Mubarak continued progress and prosperity.

The ministers decided to hold their next meeting in Riyad early next year.