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Portugal Stresses Importance of Saudi Initiative to Solve Yemeni Crisis

Eurico Brilhante Dias, Portugal’s Secretary of State for Internationalization. (Photo: Saad al-Dossary)
Eurico Brilhante Dias, Portugal’s Secretary of State for Internationalization. (Photo: Saad al-Dossary)
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Portugal Stresses Importance of Saudi Initiative to Solve Yemeni Crisis

Eurico Brilhante Dias, Portugal’s Secretary of State for Internationalization. (Photo: Saad al-Dossary)
Eurico Brilhante Dias, Portugal’s Secretary of State for Internationalization. (Photo: Saad al-Dossary)

A high-ranking Portuguese official said that his country was working to expand the European health protocol, to include third countries, as long as vaccines and certificates meet the requirements in force in the European Union.

Portugal’s Secretary of State for Internationalization Eurico Brilhante Dias said that with the vaccine pass, the ongoing vaccination process and the European Health and Safety Mark, the year 2021 would see a return to growth in tourism activity and better results than in 2020.

In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Dias said that the epidemic has had a negative impact on the global economy, noting that Portugal "is no exception.”

Despite the difficulties, the global outlook for economic recovery is now more positive, with growth projected at 6 percent in 2021 and 4.4 percent in 2022, according to IMF forecasts, he underlined.

On a different note, Dias stressed that the Kingdom was a major player in the region.

Recent initiatives taken by the Saudi Arabia confirm its commitment to future engagements that can lead to regional peace and prosperity, he said, expecting stronger cooperation and dialogue between the European Union and the Gulf states.

On relations between Portugal and Saudi Arabia, he said: “We hope to move forward with negotiations on a bilateral investment treaty, and to soon conclude talks on an air services agreement, realizing how important it is to improve air connectivity between the two sides to explore opportunities for investors in both countries.”

The Portuguese official noted that the two countries have enjoyed diplomatic relations for more than 40 years, as they signed a general agreement for cooperation in 2006 in the fields of economy, trade, investment, science and technology, culture, information, tourism, youth and sports.

He added that his country was looking forward to developing cooperation in other areas such as climate change, renewable energy, water, waste management, tourism, cultural heritage, health and higher education, hoping for cooperation between the Portuguese Space Agency and the Saudi Space Authority.

Dias said he believes that the Saudi Green Initiative was an important step to achieve the common goals of a more sustainable life on the planet, noting that the initiative has set ambitious goals, including increasing the share of renewable energy and reducing carbon emissions.

He stressed in this regard that in 2020, 61.7 percent of Portugal’s total energy production was based on renewables, especially hydraulic energy.

Regarding the situation in Yemen, Dias underlined importance of the Saudi initiative, noting that the Houthi attacks against the Kingdom were totally unacceptable.

On the Libyan level, Dias affirmed his country’s commitment to the European Union’s support to the government of Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh in the successful implementation of the road map agreed upon by the LPDF, and improving the living conditions of all Libyans.

Regarding the negotiations of the Iranian nuclear program and the dangers of Tehran’s activity in the region, the Portuguese Secretary of State for Internationalization noted that his country sees the nuclear agreement as an important pillar in the structure of non-proliferation and disarmament and the best way to ensure the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program.

“We are closely following the talks that have recently begun between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and dialogue is the first condition for establishing friendly relations with our neighbors. So we encourage them to follow this path and work together for the benefit of the region,” he stated.

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Interviews

Goldrich to Asharq Al-Awsat: No US Withdrawal from Syria

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
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Goldrich to Asharq Al-Awsat: No US Withdrawal from Syria

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich has told Asharq Al-Awsat that the US does not plan to withdraw its forces from Syria.

The US is committed to “the partnership that we have with the local forces that we work with,” he said.

Here is the full text of the interview.

Question: Mr. Goldrich, thank you so much for taking the time to sit with us today. I know you are leaving your post soon. How do you assess the accomplishments and challenges remaining?

Answer: Thank you very much for the chance to talk with you today. I've been in this position for three years, and so at the end of three years, I can see that there's a lot that we accomplished and a lot that we have left to do. But at the beginning of a time I was here, we had just completed a review of our Syria policy, and we saw that we needed to focus on reducing suffering for the people in Syria. We needed to reduce violence. We needed to hold the regime accountable for things that are done and most importantly, from the US perspective, we needed to keep ISIS from reemerging as a threat to our country and to other countries. At the same time, we also realized that there wouldn't be a solution to the crisis until there was a political process under resolution 2254, so in each of these areas, we've seen both progress and challenges, but of course, on ISIS, we have prevented the reemergence of the threat from northeast Syria, and we've helped deal with people that needed to be repatriated out of the prisons, and we dealt with displaced people in al-Hol to reduce the numbers there. We helped provide for stabilization in those parts of Syria.

Question: I want to talk a little bit about the ISIS situation now that the US troops are still there, do you envision a timeline where they will be withdrawn? Because there were some reports in the press that there is a plan from the Biden administration to withdraw.

Answer: Yeah. So right now, our focus is on the mission that we have there to keep ISIS from reemerging. So I know there have been reports, but I want to make clear that we remain committed to the role that we play in that part of Syria, to the partnership that we have with the local forces that we work with, and to the need to prevent that threat from reemerging.

Question: So you can assure people who are saying that you might withdraw, that you are remaining for the time being?

Answer: Yes, and that we remain committed to this mission which needs to continue to be pursued.

Question: You also mentioned the importance of humanitarian aid. The US has been leading on this. Are you satisfied with where you are today on the humanitarian front in Syria?

Answer: We remain committed to the role that we play to provide for humanitarian assistance in Syria. Of the money that was pledged in Brussels, we pledged $593 million just this past spring, and we overall, since the beginning of the conflict, have provided $18 billion both to help the Syrians who are inside of Syria and to help the refugees who are in surrounding countries. And so we remain committed to providing that assistance, and we remain keenly aware that 90% of Syrians are living in poverty right now, and that there's been suffering there. We're doing everything we can to reduce the suffering, but I think where we would really like to be is where there's a larger solution to the whole crisis, so Syrian people someday will be able to provide again for themselves and not need this assistance.

Question: And that's a perfect key to my next question. Solution in Syria. you are aware that the countries in the region are opening up to Assad again, and you also have the EU signaling overture to the Syrian regime and Assad. How do you deal with that?

Answer: For the United States, our policy continues to be that we will not normalize with the regime in Syria until there's been authentic and enduring progress on the goals of resolution 2254, until the human rights of the Syrian people are respected and until they have the civil and human rights that they deserve. We know other countries have engaged with the regime. When those engagements happen, we don't support them, but we remind the countries that are engaged that they should be using their engagements to push forward on the shared international goals under 2254, and that whatever it is that they're doing should be for the sake of improving the situation of the Syrian people.

Question: Let's say that all of the countries decided to talk to Assad, aren’t you worried that the US will be alienated in the process?

Answer: The US will remain true to our own principles and our own policies and our own laws, and the path for the regime in Syria to change its relationship with us is very clear, if they change the behaviors that led to the laws that we have and to the policies that we have, if those behaviors change and the circumstances inside of Syria change, then it's possible to have a different kind of relationship, but that's where it has to start.

Question: My last question to you before you leave, if you have to pick one thing that you need to do in Syria today, what is it that you would like to see happening today?

Answer: So there are a number of things, I think that will always be left and that there are things that we will try to do, to try to make them happen. We want to hold people accountable in Syria for things that have happened. So even today, we observed something called the International Day for victims of enforced disappearances, there are people that are missing, and we're trying to draw attention to the need to account for the missing people. So our step today was to sanction a number of officials who were responsible for enforced disappearances, but we also created something called the independent institution for missing persons, and that helps the families, in the non-political way, get information on what's happened. So I'd like to see some peace for the families of the missing people. I'd like to see the beginning of a political process, there hasn't been a meeting of the constitutional committee in two years, and I think that's because the regime has not been cooperating in political process steps. So we need to change that situation. And I would, of course, like it's important to see the continuation of the things that we were talking about, so keeping ISIS from reemerging and maintaining assistance as necessary in the humanitarian sphere. So all these things, some of them are ongoing, and some of them remain to be achieved. But the Syrian people deserve all aspects of our policy to be fulfilled and for them to be able to return to a normal life.