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Egyptian president urges Syrian opposition to unite to solve crisis

06 February 2013 17:38 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi urged Wednesday all Syrian opposition factions to unite to solve the Syrian crisis, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

In his opening speech at the 12th summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), held in Cairo for the first time, Morsi called all Syrian opposition groups to coordinate with the Cairo- based opposition coalition, and reaffirmed Egypt's rejection of foreign military interference in Syria.

He invited OIC member states to support regional and international efforts regarding the Syrian crisis.

The Egyptian president also said the Palestinian issue was one of the major challenges facing the Islamic states and "a cornerstone to achieve security and stability in the Middle East region and the whole world."

Describing the Palestinian issue as "our central cause and the great goal of our organization," Morsi urged member states to support the Palestinian people in their efforts "to restore their legitimate rights and establish their own sovereign state with Jerusalem as its capital city."

He congratulated the Palestinian people on the United Nations General Assembly's decision to grant the Palestinians the status of a non-member observer state.

Meanwhile, Morsi expressed concern over the escalating situation in Mali, stressing Egypt's support for the unity of Malian territories and the safety of its people.

Morsi called for "the establishment of an active mechanism to peacefully settle disputes and deal with all the crisis facing Islamic states."

He also called for mutual cooperation between Islamic states in the fields of economic, commercial, scientific, technological and cultural, in addition to further cooperation in tourism, industry and transportation.