EU, Brazil urge for peace in the Middle East

The EU and Brazil ended their 7th summit here Monday after discussing their bilateral relations and international issues, including, Syria, Iran, Palestine, Ukraine."At today's summit we focused our attention in three areas: first, how to accelerate economic growth and job creation, second how to tackle global challenges such as climate change and cyber security and third how to cooperate more effectively on foreign and security issues," Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, told a press conference.A joint statement released after the meeting said "we are gravely concerned with the continuing and indiscriminate bloodshed among the civilian population in Syria and we call for full respect of International Humanitarian Law, the cessation of all violence, the immediate unhindered access by humanitarian staff and assistance to people in need in particular in besieged areas." They also reviewed their joint efforts to support direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations leading to a two-state solution, based on the 1967 borders, in which both sides live in peace and security."On Iran, we expressed our support for a thorough implementation of the Geneva Joint Plan of Action of 24 November 2013 and agreed to continue our diplomatic efforts with Iran with a view to finding a comprehensive and long-lasting solution to the nuclear issue," noted the statement.They congratulated the authorities and the people of Tunisia on the adoption in January of the new Tunisian constitution, and expressed their full support to the efforts of the African Union and African sub-regional organizations to provide African solutions to regional problems and to tackle security challenges in that Continent."We reaffirmed the need for a comprehensive reform of the UN, including its Security Council, with a view to making it more representative and effective," said the statement.On Ukraine, Van Rompuy told the press conference that "we are following the situation very closely. Our High Representative is in Kiev and the EU will remain engaged." On her part, Dilma Vana Roussef, President of Brazil, told the joint press conference that "we have a new situation in Brazil. Our domestic market for consumption has increased inside. There are investments opportunities in profitable areas in green fields. This means that we have received the significant flows of investments, many from Europe."