Messahel to Russia Today TV: “We have historical ties with Syria and call for its return to the Arab League”.

Foreign Minister Abdelkader Messahel called on Syria to return to the League of Arab States.

“We have historical ties with Syria and we call for its return to the Arab League” ; Mesahel told the Russia Today  news agency in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Messahel added that the contacts which Algeria is has with Iran do not affect its relations with the Arab countries, stressing the need to settle all differences in the region, including the Gulf crisis, which called for « solving them according to GCC mechanisms ».

The Algerian Foreign Minister said that his country maintains good relations with all parties to the Gulf crisis.

Messahel also stressed that Algeria supports the new UN initiative on Libya.

In his address about the Algerian-Russian relations, Messahel described them as “outstanding” adding that his government is expecting the visit of of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on October 10th  and hopes that this visit will “activate cooperation in all fields” between the two countries.