Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
Damascus, SANA- President Bashar al-Assad said that People’s Assembly is the most important institution in the State’s institutions and its impact won’t be tangible if the development doesn’t be comprehensive for all institutions in light of the solid relation among them.
“Dear members of the People’s Assembly, I congratulate you on the start of the work of the fourth legislative term and you have gained the trust of your voters to be honored to serve them. Let us remember at the beginning that public trust is a resource that quickly depletes if it is not nourished by hard work, achievement and fruits,” President al-Assad, said Sunday in a speech before the People’s Assembly on the occasion of the opening of the fourth legislative term.
President al-Assad added that immunity does not mean beaching the law, but rather it means that MPs be forerunners in implementing the laws and submitting to them as they are responsible for their issuance. “The role of the People’s Assembly is to ask about the tools when it approves a law, approves a policy, etc., and when it does not ask about how to implement it, it bears responsibility for the negligence with the executive authority,” the President said.
President al-Assad added that sponsorship will be on institutions, while accountability will be for officials, both are responsibility before they are to be authority
“You bear the responsibility of discussing visions, based on your possession of visions, and this requires a clear methodology that prevents individual work at the expense of the institutional one,” the President went on to say.
The President added that individual action, no matter how it was correct, it would be ineffective, so “we must start from policies and visions in our relationship with the executive authority” .
Regarding the livelihood situation, the President said that the priority in such circumstances is not to reassure and raise morale, despite its importance, but to explain the reality as it is, analyze it, and suggest possible solutions.
“Severe economic crises are a state of Immunodeficiency that is not visible to naked eye, and wars come to reveal this state of weakness and its severity, and we must search deeply into the economic policy that we have followed over decades,” President al-Assad said.
“With the change in the region and the world and the change of rules of the economy, policy, security, culture and others, is it possible for a certain policy to be correct all the time… We have to discuss our policies, “President al-Assad added.
President al-Assad affirmed that the government has to achieve the objectives required of it in the set policies, and this government needs tools to implement the objectives, one of which may be is the changing of policies.
President al-Assad added that “ We have to determine the most appropriate and least harmful solutions for us in Syria, and every solution carries within it negatives and positives, and it is known that Syria passes through difficult circumstances, and difficult choices do not mean impossibility, but rather they mean that visions, policies and plans are built on facts.”
The President asserted that at the top of topics is supporting small and medium enterprises because they are an essential part of the economy, stressing that small enterprises are the nucleus of growth and not a solution to a temporary problem, but they are the backbone of the economy.
As for relation with Turkey, President al-Assad said that the current situation is a global crisis, and its repercussions on us push us to work faster to fix what can be fixed without the pain of wounds from the stab of a friend. Thus, we dealt with the initiatives regarding the relationship with Turkey that were presented by more than one party, “Russia, Iran, and Iraq.”
“With every passing day without progress, damage was accumulating not only on the Syrian side but also on the Turkish side. In dealing with these initiatives, we proceeded from our principles and interests which usually do not contrast with neighboring countries if the intentions were harmless, as sovereignty and international law is consistent with the principles of all parties that are serious about restoring the relationship, and combating terrorism is a common interest for both parties,” President al-Assad said.
The President added “ We did not occupy the territory of a neighboring country in order to withdraw, nor did we support terrorism in order to stop supporting it. The solution is to be frank and identify the location of the defect, not arrogance. How can we address a problem whose real causes we do not see, and restoring the relationship requires first removing the reasons that led to its destruction, and we will not abandon one right of our rights.”
“Any negotiation process needs a reference to rely on in order to succeed, and the failure to reach results in previous meetings is one of the reasons for the absence of a reference…Syria constantly stresses the necessity of Turkey’s withdrawal from the lands it occupies and stop its support for terrorism,” President al-Assad said.
The President added that the stage that Syria is talking about now is the stage of bases and principles because its success is what lays the foundation for later success, and the statements of Turkish officials are baseless, as our criterion is sovereignty.
“Citizens of the occupied Syrian Golan have given us many lessons, as they have proven that the absence of sovereignty over their land does not mean the fall of patriotism from their conscience, but rather its elevation, and that occupying the land does not mean selling one’s honor, and they have proven that their belonging is rooted and that their souls live only for Syria and for its sake, President al-Assad affirmed.
The president concluded by saying that the resistance in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen are role models to follow on the path of liberation, dignity, honor and independence.
Fedaa al-Rahai / Mazen Eyon
