Al-Shara talks with Russian counterpart on Geneva summit

Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara on Thursday received a telephone call from Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, during which they reviewed developments in the region.

The Russian minister voiced his country's backing for the efforts made to revive the suspended Middle East peace process and stressed his welcome of the forthcoming summit conference in Geneva between Syrian President Hafez al-Assad and US President Bill Clinton.

Ivanov stressed Russia's firm policy to achieve a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East on the grounds of UN Security Council resolutions 242, 338 and 425 and the land-for-peace formula. He remarked Russia's conviction that implementing these principles will ensure the restoration back of the whole of the Golan and south Lebanon.

In a statement released on Thursday to this effect, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the resumption of negotiations on the Syrian track was the main debated topic in the telephone conversation held by Foreign Minister Ivanov with Foreign Minister al-Shara.

The Russian minister also expressed Russia's readiness to contribute to finding acceptable solutions to pending issues in this regard.