French parliament member: Syria has to help us improving her image abroad

Chairman of the French- Syrian Parliamentary friendship society Philip Meirini said on Sunday that Syria has to work for improving its image abroad.

The French parliamentarian who held lengthy talks in each of Damascus and Aleppo as he was received by the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for one and a half hours and he also met with the Syrian Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam, with the foreign minister Farouk al-Shara, stressed that what is taking place in Syria "gives the impression that Syria is taking a new inclination with a sort of caution."

He said that his talks with the Syrian officials were at two levels. The first was internal and the second covered peace in the region which he described as a "key and a precondition for any progress." In statements to the press, the French parliamentarians called for improving the financial and legal conditions for investment in Syria. He concentrated in this regard on details like "the need to define the legal status of the central bank and measures to be taken to give assurances to the several investments in Syria, to define the conditions for partnership with Europe and to provide a clear vision to investors."

He concluded as saying that "Syria's image is worse than its actual reality. If we want to give Syria a better image she has to help us and to help herself."