Brussels, 04/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - Upon arriving at the informal Foreign Affairs Council meeting on Friday 4 September, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini announced that an enlarged meeting of the Quartet foreign affairs ministers will take place on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 15-28 September.
“Just in these hours UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon sent invitation letters to the foreign ministers of the Quartet [Ed: Russia, USA, EU and UN] to convene a meeting of the Quartet principles in New York, in a few weeks from now, at the margins of the General Assembly of the United Nations”, Mogherini stated. She added that “on the initiative of the European Union, he has extended similar invitations to join to the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, and to the secretary general of the Arab League”. The Europeans would like an international support group for the Middle East peace process to be set up which is broader than the Quartet.
“We hope that this re-start of the process can lead to improvements on the ground and also to re-open prospective and political horizons to the talks”, Mogherini added.
At their informal meeting, the European foreign ministers are expected to discuss the Middle East peace process and the different means available to the EU to boost this process and improve the situation in the region. (Camille-Cerise Gessant)