Meetings with Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers are scheduled for Monday and Tuesday by an Arab League delegation, to seek a solution to the Ukraine crisis through diplomacy.
The Arab League delegation consists of Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, as well as the foreign ministers of Egypt, Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, and the UAE.
There will be a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday before the delegation heads to Poland for a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Warsaw.
According to an Egyptian newspaper, the Arab ministers held an online meeting on Saturday to prepare for their mission.
Russia’s news agency quoted Assistant Secretary-General Hossam Zaki as saying that the Arab League is ready to assist efforts to find a political settlement between Russia and Ukraine.
There have been thousands of deaths and millions of displaced Ukrainians since Russian troops entered Ukraine on February 24. Four million people have fled to neighboring countries.
This conflict, he said, he hoped, would not affect the UN’s ability to deal with other crises or issues, particularly in the Arab world.
In addition to the general impact on the global economy, the war has caused wheat supplies in many Arab countries to be disrupted.
Wheat is a major export from Russia and Ukraine to the region. Since February, global grain prices have risen by as much as 37 percent.
He called on world leaders to find a peaceful end to the conflict and consider all sides’ interests when he spoke before the UN Security Council on March 23.
