Syrian- Greek presidents joint press conference
Syria-Greece, Politics, 12/16/2003

Greek President Konstandinos Stephanopoulos on Monday said that Athens is willing to further develop its relations with the Arab states.

President Stephanopoulos told reporters in a joint press conference with Syria's President Bashar al-Assad that "Today we receive President Bashar al-Assad with warmest wishes and sincere feelings É.Greece's relations with all the Arab states are good and firm, particularly with Syria with which we are bound with our traditional relations." President Stefanopoulos added that during his meeting with President al-Assad, they exchanged views on many issues concerning the Middle East, adding "I want to remind you of Syria's proposal to the UN Security Council regarding turning the Middle East into a zone free of weapons of mass destruction, which is very important due to the dangerous situation in the regionÉI believe it will gain importance in the future." " Syria has always condemned terrorism, and has expressed desire to cooperate with all states in the world to combat it wherever it is," President Stefanopoulos said.

"Our relations with Syria witness a continuous developmentÉ and my visit to Syria two years ago had set the foundations for this cooperation É.and during our meeting with President al-Assad, we talked about many issues regarding bilateral cooperation in the fields of commerce, economic, tourism, energy, transporting natural gas from Syria and the neighboring states to Europe which will enhance bilateral relations of cooperation between Syria and Greece," he said.

For his part, President al-Assad thanked the Greek President for the warm reception, expressing pleasure over his first visit to Greece.

President al-Assad described the Greek stance regarding issues of the region as objective, expressing high appreciation to Greek's firm, traditional stances vis-a-vis Arab causes.

President al-Assad underlined that Late President Hafez al-Assad was the first in the world who proposed an initiative to hold an international conference for combating terrorism in Athens in 1986, but this initiative had not met response from other countries except Greece which strongly supported it.

President al-Assad added that Greece gains importance due to its vital position as important port between Syria and the Arab states and Europe, and as an effective member of the EU.

"On the bilateral relations, we discussed issues on enhancing cooperation in the economic, commerce, tourism, maritime, gas and oil transportation, and energy fields," President al-Assad added.

President al-Assad reiterated what President Stefanopoulos has mentioned regarding Syria's initiative to turn the Middle East into a zone free of weapons of mass destruction. President Bashar al-Assad and wife began a three-day state visit to Greece on Monday.

Previous Stories:
  Al-Assad, wife arrive in Greece   (12/15/2003)
  On al- Assad's coming visit to Greece   (12/10/2003)
  Syrian- Greek memo of understanding on oil explorations signed   (12/8/2003)
  Al-Assad to visit Greece on December 15   (12/8/2003)
  Syrian - Greek parliamentary relations   (7/14/2003)
  Syrian- Greek agricultural cooperation   (6/26/2003)
  Moussa confers with Papandreau   (2/8/2003)

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