HH The Amir Meets Russian Duma Chairman

His Highness The Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met on Monday at the State Duma Headquarters in the Russian capital Moscow with the Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Sergey Naryshkin.

At the outset of the meeting the Chairman of the State Duma welcomed HH The Amir and his accompanying delegation, stressing that HH's visit constituted an important step in development of bilateral relations in the fields of politics, trade, energy and investment, looking forward to further efforts to promote cooperation between the two countries in various fields.

For his part, HH The Amir expressed pleasure over his presence in Moscow on his first official visit and thanked the Russian government and people for their warm reception.

HH the Amir described the Qatari-Russian relations as strong, solid and historical, noting that the two countries maintained joint cooperation in the fields of politics, investment, gas, energy and culture. He referred to the agreement signed this morning between the two countries in the field of culture.

HH The Amir praised Russia's big and significant role in the Middle East and the world saying in this respect: "We count on Russia in helping the Palestinian people to have their legitimate rights and in alleviating the suffering of the people of Gaza."

Regarding terrorism, HH The Amir said we all condemn and fight terrorism, but the most important is that we have to identify terrorism and who are the terrorists, adding that Qatar is part of an international anti-terror alliance and a member of the Islamic anti-terror alliance, which was recently founded by the brotherly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He said there is no doubt that the fight against terrorism is a basic and important matter, but fighting its emergence and causes are more important because if we did not fight such matters it will remain existing and we would not be able to end it permanently.

"We count on friends in Russia to find a solution to the Syrian people's suffering and political settlement that meets the demands of the Syrian people", adding that Qatar has indeed been supporting a political settlement from the first day. "In addition we support all organizations and international initiatives aimed at finding a political solution in Syria provided that it shall be satisfactory to all parties," HH The Amir said.

The meeting discussed bilateral relations and means of developing them and expanding their fields, as well as host of issues of mutual concern.

The meeting was attended by Their Excellencies members of the official delegation.

On the Russian side, the meeting was attended by a number of the State Duma members.