Lebanese president confers with Syrian premier

Lebanese President Emile Lahoud on Monday received Syrian Prime Minister Mahmoud al-Zou'bi. Following the meeting al-Zou'bi told journalists that he conveyed President al-Assad's greetings to the Syrian people and government.

He added that he "briefed President Lahoud on the results of the meeting of the joint economic committee between Syria and Lebanon." He referred to the progress in cooperation and coordination being carried out in the economic arena and other domains, particularly the freedom of exchanging national industrial products between Syria and Lebanon in implementation of cutting 25% of the customs tariffs in the two countries.

The Syrian Premier added that the Lebanese President was also briefed on other results that concern the encouragement of the private sector in the two countries to set up joint projects.

He continued: "We agreed on making further coordination to exchange expertise and information concerning joining the European partnership project.