Al-Assad exchanges messages with his French counterpart
Syria-France, Politics, 11/12/1999

Syrian President Hafez al-Assad on Thursday at the Damascus al-Shaab palace received French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine and members of his accompanying delegation.

Present at the meeting were Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa, the French ambassador in Damascus, and the Syrian ambassador in Paris. Vedrine conveyed to President al-Assad a message from French President Jacques Chirac and the president asked Vedrine to conveyed a reply message and his greetings to President Chirac.

Talks dealt with the Middle East peace process, the steps it so far achieved as well as the efforts made by France to revive the Middle East peace process talks and means of eliminating impeding obstacles.

President al-Assad said that Syria is committed to the Middle East peace process according the basics agreed upon and the progress attained and that Syria is ready to resume talks from the point they had reached.

Later in the day, the foreign minister farouk al-Shara received Vedrine.

Conditions in the region, developments concerning the Middle East peace process and the French role in giving this process a push forward were reviewed.

Al-Sharaa and Vedrine answered questions put by journalists following their talks at the foreign ministry Vedrine said, "I had the honor to meet with President al-Assad and that al-Assad stressed Syria's commitment to the peace process and the realization of just and comprehensive peace in the region as well as backing for finding a solution to it."

Vedrine added, "Syria's conception of having the solution does not comply with that of Israel. It seems to us, as French, that the question of the Golan has to be settled, taking into account the Syrian interests, a matter which will serve peace in the region."

Replying to a question on whether his talks with al-Sharaa dealt with the question of the Palestinian refugees, Vedrine said, "not basically."

Vedrine was asked if he is carrying a message from Barak to President al-Assad, and he replied, "We do not carry messages because we have close relations with Syria and Israel and through our suggestions we can participate in eliminating point of stalemate."

Vedrine was asked whether talks he held in Syria dealt with the occupied south Lebanon and he said: "We tackled in our talks this issue. It is an issue that should be settled as well the same for the Golan."

Replying to a question on how he reviews talks with Vedrine, al-Shara said, "Talks between President al-Assad and Vedrine and the talks we held at the Foreign Ministry were positive, constructive and held in a friendly and frank atmosphere."

He added: "We pin great hopes on the French role to revive Middle East peace and restore it back to the right track, according to principles and basics on which it was built since Madrid conference. We want to resume the peace process so as to build what had been achieved. And this what I had explained to Mr. Vedrine. Hopefully, the coming weeks and months will lead to resuming the Middle East peace process from the point they broke off."

Previous Stories:
  French president confers with Bashar al-Assad   (11/8/1999)
  Al-Assad gets a message from Chirac   (11/2/1999)
  Vedrine and the Syrian peace track regarding Israel   (10/9/1999)

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