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Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay Heads to Rome for Middle East Summit |
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Written by Staff
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Tuesday, 25 July 2006 |
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Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay will represent Canada at an international conference on Lebanon slated to take place in Rome, Italy on July 26. Hosted by Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, the conference will be attended by representatives from Canada, the U.S., Britain, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Russia, Finland, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, the European Union, the World Bank and the United Nations as well as Lebanon.
Syria and Iran have not been invited to attend. The decision to not include Iran is expected to be "a slap in the face to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad".
Italian and Lebanese leaders are expected to call for an immediate ceasefire. Italian prime minister Prodi said in a press conference today that he would also be raising the issue of the increasingly serious humanitarian crisis and the possibility of creating an international peace force to be deployed in the region of southern Lebanon, a move in which Israel now appears to favour.
Former UN secretary general, Boutros Boutros-Ghali also hopes that the conference will lead to a "ceasefire and put an end to Israel's agression". In an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI), Boutros-Ghali stressed, "the necessity for the United States and other nations taking part in the conference to express enormous political will to find a solution to the crisis."
Canada is one of only a few nations that has not called for an immediate ceasefire and has closely associated itself with the United States' position that Hezbollah be disarmed first. |
