Media Stakeout following 7774th Security Council Meeting

The Right Honourable John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand:

Media Stakeout following 7774th Security Council Meeting – Wednesday 21 September

Prime Minister John Key:

Let me make a few comments in terms of chairing today’s meeting.

The first thing to note is the historic nature of the agreement that was reached for Colombia. There’s been 50 years of fighting, a quarter of a million people have lost their lives.

Today is a great day, a historic day for Colombia – a lot of the credit has to go to all the parties, but for President Santos, I think this has been decades of hard work and he and the people of Colombia deserve congratulations.

Obviously the major issue discussed today was the situation in Syria. I think everyone will agree there were some very hard-hitting statements today; there was a lot of emotion in the room.

But in the end actually, all of the speakers came back to the ultimate conclusion, which is the only way forward for any kind of hope for the people of Syria is for the ceasefire to hold, for the cessation of hostilities, for aid to be able to flow to support the people of Syria, and ultimately for there to be a political solution.

And while the process was always going to be challenging, a little bit messy; sometimes two steps forward and one step back, as a number of the interventions made the following point: In the end if we fail to find a way forward for the people of Syria, more innocent people will lose their lives and the responsibility of that ultimately has to rest on the people at that table and those who have the strongest vested interests. We cannot sit back and continue to allow innocent people to lose their lives. This is the time for significant interested parties to show leadership when it comes to Syria.

Reporter: Other than the emotions and some would probably call it lip service paid to the Syrian people as they suffer, there has been some practical proposals made inside the chamber and right now outside the chamber by the French Foreign Minister, what is your plan to push forward so that you can have practical results rather than just speeches and emotions? This is genocide taking place, practically, and there is a defiance of international law and there is an accusation that the international community is really not serious about finding a solution to Syria.

Prime Minister John Key:

I think the emotion reflects the seriousness of the situation and the huge loss of life. I think there is a way forward, as you pointed through actually a number of interventions there were suggestions that were made, but the basis of that the pathway forward was established when Secretary Kerry and Foreign Minister Lavrov met. In resolution 2254, again, there was a pathway laid out. I think, you can always talk about individual component parts from a no fly zone, to whatever other suggestions that people might have. But ultimately the question has to be asked; what will it take to provide that stability and that way forward. And that is actually a political will from all of the interested parties to genuinely want to make the ceasefire hold and ultimately which individual ingredient is successful is a matter for debate.

Reporter: Will the Security Council go on subcontracting this important international matter to the Russians and the Americans, to Mr. Lavrov and Mr. Kerry? You seem to subcontract it all the time and then one day they shake hands and smile and we feel good and the next day they don’t and you say “oh they’ll meet next” so can we get more serious than subcontracting this to two foreign Ministers?

Prime Minister John Key:

Firstly the reason that we, as President, used that opportunity to host the meeting on Syria is because we believe responsibility for finding a solution rests with all of the Security Council members, not solely the Russians and the Americans, but practicality tells you that the major and most significant, both players of interest, are the United States and Russia. Without their agreement and the influence that has to be brought to bear on the Assad government, you won’t find the solution. So that is just a practical mechanism for finding a way forward.

ends

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