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In continuing his tour of the Middle East, Baird met with President Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and his ministerial counterpart to discuss security and economic development issues faced by the region.

While the Baird didn’t offer many specifics, he called the meetings “very productive,” saying there had been a good exchange of views.

“We certainly don’t agree on every issue. We have some profound differences of opinion on the way forward, but not on the need to go forward,” Baird told reporters.

Those comments were echoed by the Palestinian foreign affairs minister.

“Differences might stay but it’s good to keep talking about them among friends, and to move forward to build on agreements and the positiveness on both sides,” said Riyad Al-Maliki.

“We are looking forward to continuous Canadian support in believing in institution building and trying to help building the capacity of the Palestinian authority toward statehood.”

The Palestinians won a historic UN General Assembly vote in November that granted them status as a non-member observer state. Canada, along with the United States, was one of nine countries in the 194-country assembly that voted against the Palestinian statehood bid.

Baird was among those who expressed concerns the Palestinians would use their new status to file war crimes charges against Israel in the International Criminal Court.

In discussing development in the region on Saturday, Baird said Canada was committed to seeing its current aid projects through to completion.