Mar 14, 2007, 17:59 GMT
Damascus - Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem Wednesday urged the European Union to play a role in current efforts to put the stalled Middle East peace process back on track.
Moallem's remarks came after a meeting between Syrian President Bashar Assad with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
At a joint press conference at Damascus airport after the talks Solana said he had come to Damascus to gain 'Syria's support for the underway initiatives' concerning the political situation in Lebanon and the Middle East.
'The EU considers Syria as part of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership and the Arab world and hopes to conclude the agreement because Europe wants Syria to be a member of this partnership,' Solana said.
'I told president [Bashar] Assad that there is an opportunity now to make Syria part of these initiatives, and I told him too at the meeting, which was positive, that we wish that Syria push great efforts to implement the UN resolution 1701,' Solana told reporters.
The EU top diplomat said that he had held 'good and frank' discussions with President Assad on all issues of mutual interest and reviewed Syria's efforts to stabilize Iraq and the peace process in the Middle East.
The EU understood the peace process as 'a comprehensive process,' and worked to enable Syria to get back the lands it had lost in the 1967 Mideast war, especially the Golan Heights. It wanted 'the peace process to move as a whole' package, Solana said.
Solana said he hoped to return to Damascus for another round of discussions, but implicitly linked it to Syria's taking the 'proper decisions' and its willingness to cooperate on the peace process and on the stability in the region.
The EU official avoided a question on whether the EU would end the isolation imposed on Syria after the US had started the dialogue with Damascus, saying the important thing was that 'we are now here, and we are talking in a frank and clear way and look towards the future in a more constructive way.'
He hoped to continue dialogue in the coming days. 'Its time now to focus on facts and to support words by deeds,' Solana said.
Solana stressed he would do his best to achieve peace in the Middle East for the Syrian people and make Syria an active part of the international community again. Yet he called on the Syrian government to 'work' also in this direction.
The Syrian foreign minister applauded Solana's talks with Assad and other Syrian officials as 'fruitful and constructive' and stressed that Syria supported the full implementation of resolution 1701.
'We are keen on the implementation of the resolution 1701 and that the UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) fulfils its tasks... Syria will always stay part of the solution that seeks the security and stability of the region,' Moallem said.
But he denied reports of arms smuggle into Lebanon from Syria and said this issue would be discussed in future talks with Solana.
On the UN tribunal, Moallem said that Syria did not object to it. But he warned against jumping to conclusions before the end of the investigation, in which Syria is cooperating fully.
On the Syrian-US dialogue Moallem said that what had happened at the Baghdad conference was 'just a beginning and we hope that the US see that the solution in Iraq is not a military but a political one.'
'We have no conditions for a dialogue (with the US) except to commit to the morals of dialogue,' Moallem concluded.
Solana hinted that Syria might play a role in the international efforts to achieve a solution of the Iranian nuclear issue. But the EU only expected Damascus to play the same role as other Arab and international states, nothing more.
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why not ask the easter bunny?Mar 14th, 2007 - 22:49:46
'Syria asks EU to put Mideast peace process back on track' Eu Replies: What are you asking us for? We can't do anything...
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