Syrian President to visit France

Well-informed sources in Paris said that Syrian President Hafez al-Assad will pay an official visit to France next July and expected the visit to be held in the first half of the month. The sources added that this will be the first visit by President al-Assad in 22 years and one of his very rare visits to the West.

President al-Assad visited France in the autumn of 1976 when Valerie Jiscard Distant was President of the French Republic.

The visit is a reply to the visit French President Jacques Chirac made to Syria in October, 1996, which has consolidated French - Syrian cooperation.