Question (Inaudible)

 Mr. Pedersen: Listen, as I said in my briefing, there are basically many, many challenges.
And as you would recall, I mentioned also the legacy from the Assad regime and why the challenges are enormous for the new government. And then I said the particular, two things we need to see. We need to see more inclusiveness on behalf of the government. That's sort of what they need to do. And then the international community needs really to get its act together on sanctions and humanitarian assistance.

 Because as you heard from the new foreign minister, he emphasized very clearly that Syria does not want to be dependent on foreign aid. They want to see it developing their own economy.  So this is now the focus. 

 And of course, then if I should mention another element, would be the negotiations and contacts between the government and the SDF in the northeast. So, if we could make sure that we see progress on all of these three fronts, I think that would send a very powerful message to, first and foremost, to the Syrian people, and then of course to the neighbors and the international community at last. And then I think, you know, the time would be there also to address the other issues that you mentioned. 

 Question: Thank you, Mr. Geir Pedersen, for your time today. I have two questions, if you don't mind. First one, have you ever been to northeast Syria because you've been visiting Syria, been to northeast Syria at all? Because you've been spending time in Syria, but I wonder, have you visited this Kurdish administration? Then if not, can you tell us why? Because according to my observation, I could be wrong, you're kind of hesitating to meet Kurdish administration in northeast Syria. If it's not, can you explain to us why? And second, can you please tell us, Afrin city, which used to be a Kurdish city, how safe it is for the Kurds to go back to their hometown? Thank you.

 Mr. Pedersen: Listen, let me re-emphasize what I said. It's a very positive thing that happened on the 10th of March with the agreement between President Sharaa and Mr. Mazloum Abdi. And as I mentioned in my briefing, there's been a lot of follow-up from both sides. And on the Kurdish side, as you know very well, there are also now contacts with the different parts of the Kurdish community in Syria to try to formulate one negotiating committee to meet with Mr. Sharaa's people in Damascus. So, this is the important thing.

 And then, if you listen very carefully to what I said, I said that we are increasing our contacts and our engagement on these files. So, obviously we will hopefully be able to be supportive of what is now a Syrian-Syrian process. And I hope that is answering your question.

Question: Good to see you again. I have two questions. First, you said in your speech about sanctions should be lifted. And for those countries who already declared they are lifting the sanctions, to follow up through. So, do you have information that those countries who lifted the sanctions are not practically lifting the sanctions? And second, we keep talking about Israel and it should not bomb Syria. It should respect the sovereignty. It must, it must. But Israel continues to violate Syrian sovereignty and continues to bomb Syria and continues to occupy more land of Syria. So, what else the international community can do to force Israel to do that? And if you have any information to share with us about the Azerbaijani mediation between Syria and Israel. Thank you.

 Mr. Pedersen: The last one was a very good attempt. But I think on that one, you need to talk to the Turks and the Israelis. All right? Listen, I think you heard me in the Council, and you heard me now for many months repeating that the Israelis need to respect Syria's independence, its territorial integrity and its unity. And what I can continue to do is to appeal for this to happen and say that what is going on needs to end.

 You also saw the statement from the Council in March also re-emphasizing Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity. So, I just continue to repeat this message to the Security Council. I discussed it at length with the Syrian authorities. I had a good discussion with President Sharaa on this issue. And I discussed it with the Israelis. So, you know, the one thing I can do is to just continue to reinforce the core principle of the UN Charter.

 Question: What about the sanctions?

Mr. Pedersen: The sanctions. The key challenge now, and this is not a secret, the American sanctions. Because it's also, as you know secondary sanctions, there are now, as you know, contacts between the new Syrian government and the American administration. So, let's hope that that will lead to some positive developments on this. Because, as you rightly said, it's absolutely critical.

 Question: The U.S. ambassador mentioned that while they are seeing the foreign minister and the new government in Syria as a positive step, they would still like more qualified and representative officials in the new Syrian government. Do you agree with that assessment that the current individuals that are on this interim basis are not qualified or appropriate?

 Mr. Pedersen: Good question. So let me say the following the new government is an improvement of what was there before. Because that was what we call a one-color interim government. This time, it's not one color. There are different parts of the Syrian society that is actually part of the government. So that progress is welcome. At the same time, as I emphasized in my briefing to the Council, we need to see even more inclusion. And what I have appealed for is that when it comes now to the establishment of the People's Assembly, the new parliament, that that is an opportunity to send a reinforcing message to all Syrian people that that will be even more inclusive than what we have seen until today. And that's what I'm hoping for.

Question: Welcome back to New York. I have a question about the sanctions and the U.S. role. There were some reports circulating that part of the American approval to lift the sanctions and recognize the government was to accommodate several hundred thousand of the Gazans that President Trump wished to relocate. And actually, there was a location suggested which is a tent city by the Turkish border which used to be a safe zone for the Syrian refugees. What's the validity of this assumption?

 Mr. Pedersen: We're living in a wonderful world where there are all kinds of stupid speculations and fake news. I think this is one example.

 Question: Does the UN intend to oversee the investigation of Syrian authorities about violence that happened in Latakia and Tartus?

 Mr. Pedersen: We have had a very good dialogue with the authorities on this. I was briefed in quite some detail by Mr. Sharaa from him and my team has met with the committee that is doing the investigation and we have made sure that if they need any assistance, we are ready to provide it. For the time being, I think they are doing a proper job and hopefully we will see the outcome of that after a few more months. But then, as I said in my briefing, it's important that that is done according to international standards. But just to repeat, we are there to help and give assistance if necessary. Thank you very much.