Zeibari in Damascus

The Iraqi foreign minister Hoshyar Zeibari started yesterday a visit to Damascus. where he said in a press statement that the chance was not provided before for this visit, adding that "Syria is not an odd country for us."

It is expected that the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will hold talks with the Iraqi foreign minister who will hold talks with the Syrian foreign minister on the situation in the region and the Arab summit in Tunisia as well as bilateral relations.

Zeibari arrived in Damascus yesterday evening in a visit which is the first of its kind after he did not meet an invitation to take part in the Iraq's neighboring states meeting in 2003 in Damascus. A matter which resulted in a notable tension in the relations between the two sides.

Replying to questions put by the press, Zeibari said that his visit is at the invitation of the Syrian foreign minister Farouk al-Shara, and that certain conditions prevented this visit in earlier time. He said "this visit was expected since a while but did not take place." He added "Syria is not odd for us, we have visited it before." He described the relation between the Iraqi leadership and the Syrian government as " good and excellent." Zeibari said he will discuss with the Syrian officials " bilateral relations between Iraq and Syria " as well as consultation in the issue of the Arab summit in Tunisia in which Iraq will take part. He continued he will "brief the Syrian leaderships with the nature of the developments of conditions in Iraq and the current inclinations of the governing council." Zebari refused to talk about the Syrian internal condition and avoided speaking about the riots incidents which recently took place in the Syrian al-Jazeera area.