Austrian president to visit Syria

Austrian President Thomas Klistel said he will visit Syria to know President Bashar al-Assad. This was expressed in the Saudi daily al-Watan on the occasion of the Austrian President's visit to Saudi Arabia which started on Sunday.

The Austrian President said:" I have visited the late Syrian president Hafez al-Assad twice and now I will hold an official visit to Syria to get to know about President Bashar al-Assad.

He added that Arab- Austrian relations are built on good friendship," noting he is trying to develop relations with the Arab world and that he was the first European who called at the UN to recognize the rights of the Palestinian people and found their independent state when he was his country's ambassador at the UN under the rule of the former Austria's chancellor Borni Kresky.

Klestil, however, arrived in Riyadh on Sunday in an official visit to Saudi Arabia that lasts for three days.

During his visit, the Austrian President will hold talks with the Saudi King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz and with the crown prince Abdullah dealing with developments in the ME under the continued Israeli aggressions against the Palestinian people as well as the situation on the international arena as well as bilateral relations and means of strengthening them especially in the economic areas and increasing investment opportunities, especially in the sectors of electricity energy and tourism.

President Klistel is accompanied by a high ranking delegation including the ministers of defense, commerce, the chairman of the federal chamber of commerce and the representatives of the Austrian companies, members in the chamber.