Minister participates in Paris high-level meeting

Paris, Oct. 20 (BNA): Foreign Affairs Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa has participated in Paris High-level Meeting to stabilize the situation in Mosul. The meeting kick-started in Paris today in the presence of French President Francois Hollande and ministers of foreign affairs of the GCC, Arab and European countries. During the meeting, Shaikh Khalid hailed the significance of the operation to liberate the city of Mosul and rid it of the grip of the terrorist Daesh. He considered the operation a crucial phase to retake all the Iraqi territories and enable the government to assume its development and construction role after regaining control on all the Iraqi territories from the terrorist organizations, affirming the need for the Iraqi national Army to lead the operations with the support of the international Coalition against Daesh. The minister urged the involved forces to avoid sectarian violence of all sorts and not to allow the non-governmental militias and groups exploit the situation to implement sectarian agendas, calling for confrontation of any criminal or inhuman acts that may be perpetrated by extremist militias against the Iraqi citizens under the plea of fighting terrorism. He called for all sorts of assistance to Mosul citizens, to shelter those fleeing from violence, not to allow Mosul liberation be a cause for further distress, to categorically put an end to people’s suffering and ensure their return to normal life. The minister expressed hope that the operation would be successful, affirming Bahrain’s back-up for regional and international efforts aiming to uproot Daesh and all other terrorist groups and driving them off from wherever they are found.