Syria, Iraq to run 6 flights weekly

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad received at al-Rawda Palace Sunday afternoon Iraqi Minister of Transport Salam Awdeh al-Malki.

Talks during the meeting dealt with bilateral relations and joint agreements in fields of air, naval and land transport. Al-Malki described as fruitful and successful his meeting with President Bashar al-Assad, saying that President al-Assad underlined Syria will support Iraq and help it in the political and economic process.

"We are linked with Syria by many ties, in addition to neighborhood and pan-Arabism... we have common history and we seek that Syria has a distinguished role in backing Iraq," the Iraqi minister said in a press conference with his Syrian counterpart Makram Obeid.

"The aim of my visit is to reactivate the role of joint transportation companies and enhance bilateral ties in the transport field," Malki said, adding that Syria is viewed as an important crossing point for Iraqi goods.

Obeid, for his part, said the two sides agreed to run 6 flights weekly between Damascus and Baghdad soon, in addition to the possibility for the Syrian planes to fly over Iraqi airspace eastwards and southwards. He stressed the two states seek to develop joint projects.