Palestine’s UN bid a good opportunity to make both sides talk, says Portugal – UN Radio audio feed

Palestine’s UN bid a good opportunity to make both sides talk, says Portugal

Portugal’s President Cavaco Silva says his country wants to promote direct negotiations between Israel and Palestine.

Mr Silva spoke exclusively to UN Radio during his trip to New York, as Portugal assumes the Security Council Presidency for the month of November.

Portugal’s President said the Palestinian membership to the UN has its positives. He, however, did not reveal his country’s position when the bid comes up for vote.

“What you can see more importantly is to bring the two sides to the table. So we want to promote direct negotiations so that in the future Israel and Palestine could live side by side in peace and security. And we should look to this UN membership bid as a possibility to convince the two sides to make progress in direct negotiations.”