The joint meeting of Russian and Syrian inter-agency coordination committees on repatriation of refugees to the Syrian Arab Republic kicked off on Thursday.
The meeting is held via video at the Conference palace in Damascus and the National Defense Command Center of the Russian Federation in Moscow.
Minister of Local Administration and Environment Eng. Hussein Makhlouf, said in a speech during the meeting that the meeting comes in the framework of following up joint efforts to secure the appropriate conditions for the return of the Syrian refugees to the homeland.
Minister Makhlouf added that the illegitimate sanctions imposed on Syria and the continuation of the US and Turkish occupation of parts of the Syrian land and the looting of its resources impede the return of the Syrians refugees.
He stressed that the return of the Syrian refugees is a priority for the State, which spares no efforts in providing facilitations for their return, on top of which are the amnesty decrees and following up the completion of the reconciliation file to allow those who wish to have their status settled.
Foreign and Expatriates Minister Dr. Fayssal Mikdad said, during the meeting of Syrian-Russian ministerial coordination committees that Syria seeks to bring back its displaced people and calls upon them again to return and contribute to rebuilding what have been destroyed by terrorism.
Mikdad stressed that some western countries do not want the Syrian refugees to return back to their homeland and continue to obstruct that by all means, indicating that the US and its tools are plundering the Syrian oil and wheat and at the same time try to prevent oil and wheat from reaching Syria.
“The Turkish regime continues to openly support the terrorist organizations in Syria and repeatedly cut off water to more than a million citizens in Hasaka,” Mikdad went on to say, stressing that Syria will not surrender to those who conspired against it, and will continue to defend its sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity.
In turn, Gennady Zhidko Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation said that rebuilding of the Syrian economy and infrastructure is the main task for building on what has been achieved in the field of combating terrorism.
Zhidko pointed out that the economic sanctions imposed by the United States and Western countries on Syria impede the return of the refugees to the country.
For his part, Mikhail Mizintsev, the head of the Russian-Syrian coordination center for the return of refugees stressed in his speech at the meeting via video the necessity of unifying the international community’s efforts and involving the international and law organizations in assisting the return of the Syrian refugees to their homeland, expressing his thanks to the Syrian state on its strenuous work against terrorism.
Mizintsev referred to the return of three million displaced Syrians and refugees after the Syrian State had prepared the appropriate conditions.
He added that we see a positive dynamism in the return of the refugees and the return of all potentials of life and the return of the infrastructure and agriculture and rehabilitation of roads, buildings and services of schools, hospitals and water.
The Russian diplomat described the humanitarian situation in al-Rukban camp which is under the control of the US occupation forces and its terrorist mercenaries as critical and catastrophic as its residents suffer poverty and the lack of food.
In turn, Maria Lvova Belova, Children’s Rights Commissioner for the President of Federal Russia said in her speech via video that the Syrian State continues its efforts for the return of the refugees as it carried out developmental projects in the liberated areas , particularly rebuilding, and sewage, water and electricity networks and other projects related to the infrastructure.
Source: Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)