Al-Assad meets with Djergian on ME issues

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad received yesterday Director of James Baker Institute for Public Policy and Chairman of the Consultative Group of the Arab and Islamic World's Public Diplomacy at the United States, Edward Djerjian.

Talks during the meeting dealt with the Syrian-American relations and the consultative group's exerted efforts to understand reasons of Arab and Islamic hostile stances towards the United states and means of dealing with these stances.

Concerning this issue, President al-Assad stressed the necessity for eliminating the gap between talks and deeds because "the United States needs to understand the region's civilization and its peoples' interests and dignity."

He asserted that the region's peoples began to realize that the United States' policy in the Middle East doesn't embody freedom, equality or human rights which it calls for.