Tunis: At the end of the first consultative meeting held in Tunis on Monday at the invitation of President Kais Saied, the leaders of Tunisia, Algeria and Libya stressed the need to unify their positions and consolidate the tradition of consultation on various issues of common interest.

In the final statement of the consultative meeting, read out by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Migration and Tunisians Abroad, Nabil Ammar, and reported in a video released by the Presidency, the three leaders, after frank and constructive consultations, stressed the importance of organising this meeting and maintaining its periodicity in rotation between the three countries. The aim is to raise the excellent bilateral relations that bind each country to a new qualitative level, going beyond the bilateral framework to collective thinking and action, according to the declaration of the meeting.

The Tunisian, Algerian and Libyan leaders also underlined their shared awareness of the need to unify their positions and step up consultation and coordination in order to strengthen the conditions for security, stability and development throughout the region and increase its resilience.

This is especially true in the light of the emergence of successive regional and international changes and developments, the repercussions of which no country can bear alone, and the urgent need for the three countries to have an audible voice and an influential presence in the various regional and international spaces in which they belong.

They expressed their full readiness to be open to any honest and sincere political will that shares the same common and constructive priority to advance and enrich this common collective action, deepen understanding and cooperation in the service of security, stability and development in the region and distancing it from the politics of axes and the dangers of foreign interference.

The three leaders stressed their countries' adherence to the independence of national decisions, which derive from the will of their peoples, and their keenness to establish relations with other countries and regional and international groupings within the framework of mutual respect and non-interference in internal affairs, while adhering to a multilateral international system that promotes solidarity, justice and fairness in international relations and the equality of all before international law.

They also stressed that such consultation and coordination should not be limited to political issues, but should include all areas of economic and social development for the peoples of the three countries, in order to achieve their legitimate aspirations for stability, prosperity and integration.

The leaders of Tunisia, Algeria and Libya expressed their total rejection of foreign interference in Libyan affairs and their support for efforts to organise elections aimed at preserving the unity and territorial integrity of the Libyan state and ensuring its security, stability and development. At the same time, they stressed the key role of the neighbouring countries in supporting the Libyan authorities on the path of stability, security and reconstruction.

They also voiced strong condemnation of the war crimes and genocide committed against the Palestinian people, calling for an immediate and permanent halt to the barbaric aggression and the complete lifting of the siege on the Gaza Strip.

They also expressed their firm support for the Palestinian people and their legitimate right to establish their independent state with Al-Quds as its capital, and their absolute support for the right of the State of Palestine to full and permanent membership in the United Nations Organisation.

The leaders of the three countries warned against the danger of foreign interference in the Sahel-Saharan region, while stressing the need for Arab and African action to assume its responsibility and role in the context of UN efforts to end the suffering of the Sudanese people.

They also emphasised the need to further deepen consultations and exchange analyses, assessments and information on the phenomena of terrorism, trafficking in human beings, all types of drugs and organised crime, in order to protect the region from these scourges.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse