The Secretary-General met today with His Excellency Mr. John Kerry, Secretary of State of the United States, on the margins of the French ministerial meeting on the Middle East Peace Process in Paris, France.

They discussed international peace and security issues, including efforts to address the political crises in Syria, Libya, Yemen and progress on the upcoming Quartet Report and the importance of the Arab Peace Initiative as a platform for advancing Israeli-Palestinian and Arab-Israeli peace.

On the Middle East peace process, the Secretary-General expressed hope that the French hosted ministerial meeting today would reaffirm the international community's commitment to the two-state solution as the only viable means of achieving the aspirations of both peoples.

In particular, they discussed the situation in Syria and the Secretary-General expressed the need for increasing humanitarian assistance for Syrians.  The Secretary-General commended the joint United States-Russian Federation cooperation on monitoring violations of the cessation of hostilities.  He expressed his profound and continuing concern over the desperate plight of those Syrians living in besieged areas and stressed the need to do something urgently to help them.