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At the third meeting of the Group of Friends of the Syrian People in Paris, Lithuania and other Nordic and Baltic countries issued a joint statement on the situation in Syria, which condemns the Syrian government for the massacre of its civilians and underlines that all countries should join effort aimed at launching a peaceful political process, Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports.

Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Asta Skaisgirytė Liauškienė represents Lithuania at the conference that was organized by the United Nations, the Arab League and other players of the international community, seeking to end the repression and attacks of the Syrian government against its civilians. Representatives of the Syrian opposition were also invited to attend the meeting.

The statement says that there could be alarming regional repercussions caused by the daily deteriorating situation and continued crisis. Therefore, the Nordic and Baltic countries once again supported the efforts of Joint Special Envoy of the UN and the Arab League Kofi Annan and his six-point peace plan. The statement stresses need to stop legal and illegal arms supplies to Syria.

The Nordic and Baltic countries welcome the results of the Action Group meeting on Syria that was held on June 30 in Geneva and the proposal to establish a transitional governing body, and stress that it cannot include persons responsible for the crimes. The process requires the Syrian opposition to take uniform actions. Therefore, the Nordic and Baltic countries call on the opposition to get more united.

This is already the third meeting that aims to mount the pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The Group of Friends of the Syrian People believes that all perpetrators of those crimes should be punished. The international community will continue to develop sanctions to bring additional pressure to bear on the regime and will further provide assistance to the opposition. The participants of the conference observed a minute of silence as they paid tribute to the victims in Syria. Syrian regime’s brutal actions over the past sixteen months since the beginning of the uprising have led to the death of more than 10 thousand civilians. Tens of thousands of Syrians were forced to flee their homes.

The first international Conference of the Group of Friends of the Syrian People was held in Tunis in February and the second took place in April in Istanbul. The next meeting of the Group of Friends of the Syrian People will be held in Morocco.