(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday met with European Union High Representative Federica Mogherini to discuss a number of conflict zones and security threats to Europe with a focus on Libya and the ongoing tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
"Libya is at a critical moment where we believe that diplomacy is really being put to the test," Kerry said at a joint press conference with the EU foreign policy chief following the meeting.
He commended Mogherini's "leadership and efforts to try to help galvanize some kind of diplomatic conference that can create a government under the UN mandate, and begin to provide the stability that the people of Libya deserve and that the region needs in significant ways right now." Kerry further acknowledged that the EU "is particularly seized" of "the migrant situation," as thousands of refugees from across Africa and the Middle East find smugglers in Libya to take them to Italian shores. Hundreds do not survive the overcrowded and sometimes unsupervised boat trips. For her part, Mogherini said: "It is essential in these times for the European Union to work together on saving lives of desperate people that are looking for a better future, fighting against the trafficking and smuggling of people, especially across the Mediterranean, in partnership with the UN, with the African Union, with the Arab countries, and also on the root causes of this." On the Russian incursion in eastern Ukraine, Kerry affirmed that the EU is "critical to the sanctions regime that is essential to helping to impress on Russia the need to fully implement the Minsk agreements."
"There are some very important choices coming up in the next months regarding the continuation of the sanctions regime (imposed by Western powers on the Kremlin). It's a critical moment for Russia to help implement that agreement fully. "Right now there appear to be different views as to what the interpretation of the political requirements are. So we will be very engaged with the EU in working going forward with respect to the Minsk implementation," he added. (end) ys.gb
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