Syria welcomes stronger relations with Belarusian, Assad on Israel
Syria, Politics, 3/10/1998

At a dinner banquet in honor of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who arrived Damascus earlier in the day for a three-day official visit to Syria, President al-Assad said: "This visit gets its significance from its goal that is enhancing the relations between Syria and Belarus."

President Assad said: "I am confident that this visit will achieve the goal hoped for to consolidate the standing relations between our two countries, which made remarkable progress," expressing Syria's wish to develop the relations on the basis of mutual interests.

Concerning regional developments, President Assad said: "our region suffers from conditions caused by the violation of U.N. charter and U.N. resolutions by powers tending to aggression and dominating other peoples, which led this region to a whirlpool of conflicts and wars. Israel's government which rejects peace has not and will not achieve what it aspires to."

Assad said, "We are looking forward to just and comprehensive peace that can put an end to the occupation of the Arab lands and the usurpation of Arab rights and gives everyone his own rights." President al-Assad went on saying: " We highly appreciate the countries which support our struggle for peace."

President Assad welcomed the opening of an embassy for Belarus in Damascus and viewed this measure as a good step on the road to developing relations between the two countries. He added that at a convenient time Syria will open an embassy in Minsk, expressing trust that the relations between Syria and Belarus will steadily develop.

For his part, President Lukashenko said, "By August this year, five years will have passed since diplomatic ties were established between the two countries, but these ties have upgraded strongly in different fields, especially in the economic, trade and humanitarian spheres. Belarus is very keen on developing cooperation with Syria, and based on the visit I am certain that bilateral ties will continue to grow in the future."

President Lukashenko' s accompanying delegation comprises the speaker of the parliament, the first deputy premier, the foreign minister, the minister of foreign economic relations, central bank governor and the ministers of defense, industry and agriculture.

The two presidents reviewed economic, trade, scientific and technical cooperation and discussed ways of developing these ties. Discussions also centered on cooperation in land and air transportation as well as cultural, information, health, tourism and banking cooperation.

Previous Stories:
  Al-Sharaa wraps up Lebanon visit   (3/6/1998)
  New Syria-Turkish dialogue   (3/3/1998)
  Syrian, Belarusian information relations reviewed   (2/24/1998)

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