Mr. Attaf receives phone call from Swedish counterpart

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and National Community Abroad, Ahmed Attaf received a telephone call on Tuesday from his Swedish counterpart, Tobias Billström, who expressed his country’s indignation and categorical rejection of the vile incidents of desecration of the Holy Quran in Stockholm, the day after the Algerian authorities summoned the Chargé d’Affaires at the Swedish Embassy in Algiers.

The talks focused on the incidents of desecration of copies of the Holy Quran in Stockholm, with the Swedish minister expressing his country’s indignation and categorical rejection of these vile acts.

Recalling the constitutional restrictions that limit the Government’s scope for action to counter such acts, the Swedish Foreign Minister informed Attaf of the initiative taken by the Swedish Ministry of Justice to consider the possibility of adapting public order regulations to the need to dealing with this type of reprehensible act.

For his part, Attaf recalled the content of the correspondence addressed to the Swedish diplomatic representation in Algeria, which concerned Algeria’s official protest and its firm condemnation of these immoral and uncivil acts that target everything that is sacred to Muslims everywhere in the world.

He also stressed that “these heinous acts run counter to Swedish values and traditions of openness, coexistence and assistance without discrimination or exclusion of any kind.”

On behalf of his country, people and government, Tobias Billström offered his sincere condolences to Algeria on the victims of the fires that affected certain regions of the country, expressing Sweden’s solidarity and support for Algeria in these painful circumstances.

The Swedish Foreign Minister also paid tribute to the depth and richness of the historical relations between Algeria and Sweden, underlining the special attention paid by his country to these relations and its commitment to strengthening and diversifying them in the service of the aspirations of both friendly countries.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria.