Al-Assad confers with Austrian counterpart
President Thomas Klistel of Austria arrived in Damascus on Wednesday in a short visit to Syria.
At Damascus airport he was welcomed by President Bashar al- Assad and his wife.
The Austrian President was also welcomed by the foreign minister Farouk al-Shara, the minister of the economy and foreign trade Dr. Muhammad al-Imadi, the Syrian ambassador in Vienna Safwan Ghanem and the Austrian ambassador in Damascus and embassy staff.
At the Damascus al-Shaab palace, President Bashar al-Assad and President Klistel held a meeting attended on the Syrian side by the Foreign minister farouk al-Shara and Dr. al-Imadi and the Austrian side was attended by the minister of the economy and the Austrian ambassador in Damascus and other officials concerned. Then the two presidents held a close door meeting.
The two sides reviewed current events took place in the US and the situation on the international arena including the situation in Afghanistan.
The two presidents condemned what happened in the US and the need of discussing means of avoiding the world more violence and then to deal with reasons leading to terrorism.
The two presidents agreed that among the most important reasons to fighting terrorism is eliminating its reasons and preserving the life of civilians in any country and any place at the same criterion. They stressed that the double-standard policy is one of the reason of frustration felt by many in the world.
The Syrian president stressed that among the most important long- run means to fighting terrorism is to maintain a cultural and political dialogue among peoples and states under the condition to ensure confidence between sides concerned.
Al-Assad stressed that the current conflict is not religious and terrorism is not linked to a nationality, religion or a race and therefore there should be an international cooperation built on dialogue among cultures and their diverse concepts for fighting terrorism.
The two presidents stressed the need of reviving the ME peace and finding out a just solution because the stability of the ME region will eventually contribute to the efforts aiming at fighting terrorism. They indicated that stances of Syria and Austria regarding the Arab- Israeli conflict are almost identical.
The two presidents expressed their satisfaction over the remarkable bilateral relations throughout decades between Syria and Austria and their determination to intensify efforts to push relations forward for the interests of the two countries, the Arab world and Europe and the world.
President Klistel and his wife left Damascus on Wednesday afternoon and were seen off by President al-Assad, his wife and high ranking Syrian officials.
