By NNN-KUNA,
London : British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has said that work is needed to progress on a Middle East peace settlement.
In his keynote speech to the annual Labour Party conference in Manchester Monday, the Foreign Secretary said: “There is nothing more fundamental to peace and reconciliation in the world than stability in the Middle East.”
“A secure Israel living alongside a viable Palestinian state. That commitment, if it is not realised soon, will become impossible,” he said.
The Foreign Secretary also called for a new trans-Atlantic alliance that “overcomes the divisions of the Iraq war and a United Nations fit for 2015 not 1945.”
Miliband told delegates that Britain stands “shoulder to shoulder” with Pakistan in the fight against terrorism following the blast which ripped through a major hotel in Islamabad. He said he had offered his support to new President Asif Ali Zardari after the blast which killed 53 people.
“Over 800,000 British citizens have heritage in Pakistan. Let us say today we mourn with the people of Pakistan in their days of terrible loss. We reach out to those Britons of Pakistani origin and we say to them: you are our friends, our relatives, our neighbours, our fellow citizens and we grieve with you too.”
“And let me say this as well: I know that this conference will join me in the resolve that I expressed to President Zardari yesterday (Sunday) on the telephone.
“We will stand with the people of Pakistan as they fight this evil and we will stand with them shoulder to shoulder as long as it takes.”
In his speech, Miliband also pledged to support the people of Zimbabwe to end the one-party rule of Robert Mugabe.