UN general assembly head says UN needs to support regional actors and initiatives

ISTANBUL (A.A) - President of the United Nations General Assembly Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser said Saturday that the UN needed to extend more support to regional actors and initiatives that aim to solve regional issues. "The UN should support regional actors and initiatives to find lasting and viable settlements to conflicts. We need regional and sub-regional structures which would have a better insight about a regional dispute," Al-Nasser told an international conference on mediation in Istanbul. Al-Nasser said that he believed in power of mediation in solving disputes, which he said also fit the spirit of the concept of the Alliance of Civilizations.      Also speaking at the event, Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja called for more women participation in mediation efforts, saying "women need to be engaged more in solving disputes with same rights as men in negotiation groups." Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota said on his part that Israeli-Palestinian conflict remained as the biggest obstacle against global stability, urging the United Nations Security Council to actively involve in the peace process. "This problem is off the agenda of the Security Council. Instead, the issue is rested with the Middle East Quartet where we see not much of a result. If we settle this problem we will get solutions in many other areas," Patriota said.