Albright in Damascus
Syria-USA, Politics, 9/4/1999

Syrian President Hafez al-Assad at 1.30 p.m. (Damascus local time) at the Damascus al-Chaab palace received US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and members of her accompanying delegation.

Present at the meeting were the US Middle East peace process coordinator, Dennis Ross; the US undersecretary of state for the Middle East, Martin Indyk; and the US ambassador in Damascus, Ryan Crocker.

Present at the meeting were the US Middle East peace process coordinator, Dennis Ross; the US undersecretary of state for the Middle East, Martin Indyk; and the US ambassador in Damascus, Ryan Crocker. Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa also attended the meeting.

Earlier, al-Sharaa received Albright. Talks dealt with development of conditions in the region and the US efforts to revive the Middle East peace process. Bilateral relations between Syria and the US were also reviewed.

On the Syrian side the meeting was attended by Deputy Foreign Minister Suleiman Haddad; the Syrian ambassador in Washington, Walid al-Mu'allem; and the legal advisor at the Syrian Foreign Ministry, Riad al-Dawoudi. On the US side the meeting was attended by Indyk, Ross and Crocker.

In a joint press conference she held in Damascus with al-Sharaa, Albright said her meetings today with the Syrian officials are intended to explore possibilities for maintaining a move and to reach a peace agreement. "I assure the US desire to back all sides if they decide to resume negotiations. We hope to proceed in these talks forward," Albright added. "We have also discussed today the importance of reviving the Middle East peace process and ways to restore calm and preserve it in south Lebanon and this region. It is very important to back the work of the April Understanding committee, on the one hand and for all sides to maintain the utmost degrees of self-control, on the other."

Albright added that comprehensive peace has been the objective of peacemakers in the region for almost two decades and the hope the majority of the peoples of the region. She said, "Hopefully, my visit today to Damascus will help moving into the right track."

For his part al-Sharaa said, "We have held good, constructive, positive and frank talks. We have discussed the peace process on all tracks, especially on the Syrian and Lebanese tracks. We have also discussed bilateral relations and means of improving them between Syria and the US."

Replying to a question on whether there were any new proposals by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, al-Sharaa said, "We have expected that Albright will bring with her new news following her visit to Israel in order to resume peace talks. But we are still hoping that such news will come later." He added, "I had said before that the Syrian stand is clear, and we believe in the just and comprehensive peace and in achieving peace within months if there are good intentions among the sides concerned."

Albright was asked about the US position concerning the resumption of negotiations on the Syrian track from the point they halted at and she said: "I would like to say we want talks to be resumed. The most important thing is to revive this track completely, and we will hold talks with President Hafez al-Assad and speak with him about the latest developments, and we hope we will be able to help in this process."

Al-Sharaa was asked whether the Israeli stand is encouraging for resuming the peace process and he said, "Concerning the Syrian stand, we think that the Israeli prime minister, who talked about his stand during his election campaign, belongs to the Rabin school, in that he will follow Rabin's steps. Therefore, we have the feeling and the impression that Barak will ratify the document Rabin put with the US President Clinton. And when Barak does so, Syria will be then ready to resume talks."

Replying to a question on whether Albright brought with her the draft which records the Syrian-Israeli talks, which al-Sharaa said is with the US, and if she finds that such a "document" is the basis to move forward, Albright said, "I have brought with me certain evaluations we have drawn during our talks with Israeli Prime Minister Barak and my talks with President Clinton. I will not go into details as to what my talks with President al-Assad will imply. The most important thing is to revive this track, and we have the window and the opportunity, and I have plans to present these interventions to President Hafez al-Assad."

Later in the day Albright left Damascus for Beirut following a several-hour visit to Damascus. Upon arriving at Beirut International Airport, Albright was welcomed by Lebanese Information Minister Anwar al-Khalil. She is to meet with Lebanese Prime Minister Salim al-Hoss in a closed-door meeting. This meeting will be followed by a plenary meeting which will be joined by members of the Lebanese and US delegations.

Previous Stories:
  Lebanese prime minister discuss Albright visit with Syrian foreign minister   (9/3/1999)
  Syrian official speaks on the visit of Albright   (9/2/1999)
  US deal to convince Damascus returning back to negotiation table   (9/1/1999)

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