Arab States extraordinary summit conference – Letter from Syria

Letter dated 28 August 1985 from the Permanent Representative

of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations addressed

to the Secretary-General

The Permanent Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic presents his compliments to the Secretary-General and, with reference to document A/40/564 of 21 August 1985 containing a memorandum from the Permanent Mission of Morocco to the United Nations and an annex thereto, has the honor to communicate the position of his Government concerning that document:

The Syrian Arab Republic wishes to express its deep regret with regard to the distribution of the Final Communiqué of the Extraordinary Summit Conference of Arab States, held at Casablanca from 7 to 9 August 1985, as a document of the General Assembly, in view of the fact that the holding of that Conference was incompatible with the rules and practices followed in the case of conferences of that kind. The Syrian Arab Republic wishes to point out that the Communiqué in question does not express a unanimous Arab position, owing to the fact that five Arab States, including the Syrian Arab Republic, did not participate in the work  of the Conference, and that more than half of the Arab heads of State were absent from it; that fact deprives it of political value, inasmuch as it has been the practice to hold Arab summit conferences on the basis of general agreement among Arab sovereigns and presidents, in view of the importance of the matters to be discussed at such conferences, and since such matters are of common concern to the Arab States.

In the light of the above, the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic considers that the Final Communiqué does not accurately express the true nature of the Arab position on the important questions raised therein.

The Permanent Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic requests that this letter be distributed as an official document of the General Assembly under items 26, 33 and 38 of the provisional agenda of the fortieth session.

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* A/40/150.