On al-Sharaa's statements in Paris
Syria, Politics, 9/20/1999

In its Sunday morning report, the BBC said that Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa has called on Israel to define what its means by saying "resuming negotiations from the point they stopped at," refusing to predict a date for resuming these negotiations. Al-Sharaa said, "The coming months and weeks will reveal this matter, positively or negatively."

The radio said al-Sharaa's statements were made at the conclusion of his talks with French President Jacques Chirac, during which the French president sent a message to President al-Assad pertaining the French role in the Middle East peace process.

For his part the BBC correspondent in Paris said the Syrian minister stressed at the conclusion of his talks with Chirac what Syria call its principles in the Middle East peace process. The Syrian minister praised the US stand, saying, "The US behaves in a sense of responsibility in order to resume negotiations from the point at which they broke off." Al-Sharaa also stressed, concerning France, that it has a key role to play in Middle East peace in its capacity as an important country in the European Union and the international arena.

The Syrian minister gave no mention of the nature of this French role or of the content of the message sent by the Syrian president to the French president. Nevertheless, upon talking about al-Sharaa's visit to France, the spokeswoman for the French Foreign Ministry spoke about security arrangements in the Golan Heights and in south Lebanon, although the French president will discuss on Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, during the latter's visit to France, the current French - Syrian contacts made in the context of the French efforts to revive the Middle East peace process on the Syrian and Lebanese tracks.

French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine is also expected to visit the countries of the region soon.

Previous Stories:
  Al-Sharaa highlights Syrian - Egyptian coordination   (9/16/1999)
  On Syrian-Israeli negotiations   (9/15/1999)
  Al-Sharaa hails Egyptian - Syrian relations   (9/14/1999)

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