Iranian president, speaker confer with Syrian Parliament speaker

Iranian President Muhammad Khatami on Thursday in Tehran received the speaker of the People's Assembly in Syria, Abdul Qader Qaddoura, in the presence of the Syrian ambassador in Tehran, Ahmad al-Hassan.

The Iranian president expressed satisfaction with the level of developed relations between the two countries. He added, "Our relations with Syria are historical and remarkable and can be an example to be followed by the countries of the region."

The Iranian president stressed that his recent visit to Syria was his first outside Iran to a Muslim state. He praised the successful results of this visit at all political, economic and cultural levels. He added that viewpoints were identical concerning all debated issues.

Talks between President Khatami and Qaddoura dealt with bilateral relations and matters of mutual concern. Moreover, the spiritual leader of the Iranian revolution, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani discussed during two separate meetings with Qaddoura bilateral relations between Syria and Iran and matters of concern to the two countries.