Final statement of the 10th Congress of al-Baath Arab Socialist Party
Syria, Politics, 6/14/2005

The 10th Congress of al-Baath Arab Socialist Party Concluded four-day Meetings on June 9th and issued a final statement, stressing determination to continue the process of development and reforms in Syria as well as widening the scope of public participation in the political life and revision of constitution articles in line with the decisions adopted by the Congress.

The Congress stressed the following principles:

- Commitment to the strategy of peace in protecting our national interests, restoration of our occupied lands and usurped rights, reactivation of the Arab peace initiative as a basis for the liberation of the occupied Syrian Golan till June 4th, 1967 line as well as supporting the Palestinian people in their struggle to restore their legitimate national rights, foremost of which is the establishment of a Palestinian independent state with Jerusalem as its capital and the return of refugees home.

- Giving priority to special historical relationship with Lebanon and boosting Syrian-Lebanese cooperation as part of constitutional work among between both states.

- Follow up on the call initiated by late President Hafez al-Assad at the United Nations on Convening an international conference under the UN supervision to identify terrorism and distinguishe between the terrorism which must be condemned and the struggle of peoples for national liberation.

- Boosting relations with all Arab states and doubling efforts to overcome obstacles that hinder using these relations as a basis for the restoration of Arab solidarity.

- Tackling the defects that affected Syrian-Iraqi relations for a long time as well as making consultations with the leaderships and Iraqi political parties on the official and public levels to make the underway political process in Iraq a success as part of united, independent, democratic Iraq in addition to developing these relations to the best possible level.

- Continuing with the bilateral relations with the Islamic countries, particulalty with Turkey and Iran who are bound with Syria and the Arabs by historical relations in addition to their present roles in preserving security and stability of the region.

- Exerting persistent efforts to maintain the role and status of Non-Aligned Movement as the greatest international forum, after the UN, to protect the interests of developing countries and peoples.

- Exerting persisting efforts to build Syrian-European partnership that achieve the interests of both parties and guarantees cooperation in political, economic, cultural, scientific cooperation after the final signing on the Partnership Association.

- Giving more attention to the relations with Latin American countries and their peoples to further develop relations in all fields, encouraging mutual visits on all levels between Syria and These countries, seeking to open Syrian centers in some of them to care for cultural, tourist and economic fields.

- Developing and widening all forms of cooperation with the other countries of the world which support our legitimate issues and continued efforts to convey Arab issues through dialogue based on the UN charter and objectives.

- Continue with regional and international efforts, particularly at the UN Security Council, to turn the Middle East into a zone free from all nuclear, chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction along with forcing Israel to join the Non-Proliferation Treaty and putting its nuclear facilities under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The Congress focused on organizing the relations between the Party and the state, outlining the role of the Party by drawing the general tendencies and policies of the state and society, defining the requirements of the development as well as supervision on these policies.

The Congress, in order to develop the political system and widen the political process, called for revision of the constitution articles in line with the directives and recommendations adopted by the Congress. It also underscored importance of supporting legislative judiciary and its independence as well as calling the government to outline adequate mechanism to fight corruption and rationing public spending.

The Congress also underlined importance of issuing the law of parties to guarantee national participation in the political life on the basis of enhancing the national unity, and making a revision of the election laws to the People's Assembly, Local Administration and putting mechanism to develop this law.

It pointed out to the principle that all citizens must be equal before law.

The Congress also called for fighting all aspects that could harm national unity.

The Congress also recommended that the emergency law be revised in a way that its articles be confined to crimes that harm the state security as well as the cancellation of the two legislative decrees No. 6 for the year 1965 on anti-revolution aims and No. 4 for the year 1965 on hindering carrying out socialist legislations as well as the cancellation of the law No. 53 for the year 1979 on the security of the Party The Congress called for resolving the problem of the population statistics of 1962 in al-Hasaka Governorate as well as developing the Eastern areas of Syria.

It also called for boosting the role of women and their participation in the Party and decision-making centers on equal foot with men.

The Congress pointed out to the necessity of revising the law of publications and the issuing of a new law of all forms of information.

- In the Economic Sector: the Congress stressed that the overall development is a national responsibility for the society and the state as well as for all public and private economic circles. It urged the government to go ahead with issuing the adequate law and taking proper procedures to strengthen the economic and social development and widen the scope of effective participation in it.

The Congress stressed importance of continuing with the project of economic, social and administrative reforms. The Government is to be assigned with outlining the 10th five-year plan before the end of this year and formulate the program of the economic reforms in light of the plan.

It also adopted the principle of social market economy on the basis of gradual transformation to protect the society from shakes, stressing the role of the state in economy in line with developed modern forms, and the rehabilitation of the public sector in the strategic areas as well as enhancing the role of private sector in the economic activities.

The Congress focused on the need to improve living conditions for all citizens either through raising salaries and wages or through developing social services by adopting suitable forms and methods.

In the final session, the Congress elected President Bashar al-Assad as the Regional Secretary of the Party, and elected a new 13-member Regional Leadership and a new 96-member Central Committee as well as a new Supervision and Inspection Committee.

Before the end of the Congress, President al-Assad delivered a comprehensive speech in which he reviewed all internal, regional and international developments, pointing out to Syria's role and her national and pan-Arab stances vis-a-vis these developments.

Al-Assad talked about the pressures faced by Syria because of its independent decisions and principled stances towards Arab issues. He also spoke about the process of development and modernization, pointing out to the role of the Party and the strong national unity as well as Syria's ability to steadfast on the basis of this unity.

He underscored need to fight corruption and reactivate the role of institutions and supervision agencies in this field, stressing that only a strong state can achieve overall development and safeguard its independent national decisions.

He also called on all Party members to interact with the peoples' problems and issues as well as reaching proper mechanisms to carry out the directives and policies agreed upon to reach concrete results on the ground and help reach a dynamic political economic and culture life.

President al-Assad also underscored importance of sense of responsibility and abiding by the Pan-Arab identity, urging Party members to enhance Party culture, pan-Arab awareness and work in line with modern forms that advance the process of complete national development.

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