Views on Gaza shared by other Apec economies, says Zambry

SAN FRANCISCO: Several Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) nations share the views held by Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia on the Gaza crisis, says Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir.

The Foreign Minister told Malaysian media here that these nations include Chile among other member economies.

"They are also of the view that the crisis in Gaza needs to be stopped immediately because it will affect the global economic climate," he said, reported by Bernama

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At this meeting, he added that there are many countries that agreed with Malaysia that a ceasefire should be implemented immediately and maintained the stance that the crisis in Palestine should be included in the Apec Leaders’ Golden Gate Declaration.

This is following a suggestion that the crisis between Russia and Ukraine should also be included in the statement.

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"The only point of contention is one more aspect, which is the geopolitical statement; there are differences of opinion among member countries because there is an effort to focus only on Ukraine," he said.

Zambry said countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei disagreed with the hypocrisy.

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"Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei did not compromise on the matter, and then there were efforts until this morning, where I (representing Malaysia), Indonesia and Brunei also held final discussions with the representatives of the committee directed to meet the three of us.

"We still insist that if we want to include the geopolitical issue (in the leaders’ statement), it means that we also have to include the Gaza issue. Why do we want to deny it,” he said.