Syrian FM to meet Albright in Washington today

Syrian and US sources asserted that Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa will stop in Washington today on his way back to Damascus from Colombia. The sources added that on Friday al-Sharaa will meet with the US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and other officials at the US State Department.

Talks will deal with the Middle East peace process, especially on the Syrian and Lebanese tracks, as well as the possibility of implementing UN resolution 425 and Syrian - US bilateral relations.

In 1995, the Syrian foreign minister paid a state visit to Washington, where he met with its then Secretary of State Warren Christopher and US President Bill Clinton, prior to the deadlock of negotiations on the Syrian track at the beginning of 1996. The Syrian side that proposed al-Sharaa stop in Washington (the two sides, the US, and Syria, avoid using the world visit) because they do not want to exaggerate the results of the talks, despite their importance in this crucial stage of the peace process.

On Wednesday, the Syrian ambassador in Washington, Walid al-Muaallim, met with the US Middle East undersecretary of state for foreign affairs, Martin Indyk, and informed him officially that al-Sharaa' will arrive in the US capital today.

The sources added that al-Sharaa's talks with the US officials will concentrate on the current status of the peace process on all tracks, especially the Syrian and Lebanese ones and the evaluation and assessment made by US officials on results of their recent moves on reactivating the Palestinian- Israeli negotiations, rather than results of the recent visit of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington.