Al-Sharaa holds fruitful talks in London
Syria-UK, Politics, 2/5/1999

Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa met on Thursday in London with Arab ambassadors accredited in Britain. Talks dealt with discussions and meetings the minister held in London with British officials and means of reactivating Arab media and diplomatic activities in the service of Arab causes.

During the meeting, al-Sharaa stressed Syria's commitment to its rights which it will "rightfully defend." Al-Sharaa described his talks with the British officials as constructive and fruitful and said they were held in a friendly and frank atmosphere, noting "mutual satisfaction for the results of the visit."

The Syrian minister added, "We did not hear anything from the British side that disagreed with what we had talked about," noting that the British officials praised Syria's role in the peace process.

Meanwhile, the spokesman of the British Foreign Office said on Thursday that British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook told Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa during their meeting on Wednesday, that Britain supports the current negotiations between Syria and the European Union in order to reach an accord on economic partnership.

The spokesman added in a statement to reporters that the two ministers have agreed on continuing bilateral dialogue to develop cooperation in different fields.

Concerning the Middle East peace process, the spokesman said the two sides agreed on the necessity of achieving progress on the Syrian and Lebanese peace tracks, and they also talked about the means to overcome the obstacles facing the peace negotiations.

On Iraq, the spokesman said that al-Sharaa briefed the British foreign secretary on the Arab League position as it is detailed in the final statement of the latest meeting of the Arab foreign ministers held during January in Cairo.

He added that the two sides agreed that the best way to solve the Iraqi crisis is to submit the AL's initiative to the UN Security Council to be discussed.

On Thursday evening al-Sharaa returned to Damascus, concluding his official visit to the UK.

Previous Stories:
  Syrian FM discusses Middle East peace process with British officials   (2/4/1999)
  Iraqi file on top of al-Sharaa's talks today with Fatchett   (2/3/1999)
  Cook describes Syrian-British relations as good   (2/2/1999)

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