Baird meets with Palestinian leaders
Posted April 6, 2013 11:16 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird has wrapped a series of meetings in Ramallah where he met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and his ministerial counterpart.
Baird says Canada and the Palestinian Authority “have some profound differences of opinion on the way forward, but not on the need to go forward.”
He says he discussed development in the region and said Canada was committed to seeing its current aid projects through to completion.
Baird did not say if Canada would be renewing its $300 million in aid spending for Palestinians, a five-year commitment which officially expired last month.
But he says he listened to the Palestinian leaders’ priorities for the future and looked forward to “continuing constructive engagement” with the region.
Baird also urged the resumption of peace talks between Palestine and Israel, calling on both sides to return to the negotiating table with no preconditions.
Baird’s latest meetings are part of his tour of the Middle East which began last weekend.
The Palestinians won a historic UN General Assembly vote in November which granted them status as a non-member observer state.
Canada, along with the United States, was one of nine countries in the 194-country assembly that voted against the Palestinian statehood bid.
