President Assad to visit France after French National Day

A Syrian official source said today in Damascus that President Hafez al-Assad will visit Paris just few days after France's National Day on July 14.

No official announcement has so far been made of a set date for the visit, but the source made it clear that it will be on July 16 and 17, as President Assad will spend only one night in Paris.

Spokesman for the Presidential palace Jibran Koreyah has been on a visit to Paris since last Monday to prepare for the visit. The visit of the Syrian President to Paris is his first visit for a Western country since 1990, when he met in November 1990 with former US President George Bush in Geneva to discuss the Gulf crisis.

President Assad's last official visit to the West was in June 1976, also to Paris then under the reign of President Valerie Jiscard Distant and his then-Premier Jacques Chirac.

In December 1997, President al-Assad took part in the summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, which was held in Tehran.