After UAE, Egypt, Bashar al-Assad to visit France, Iran

Col. Bashar al-Assad, son of Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, will, before the end of this year, make official visits to France, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt after he had visited recently Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Jordan and Lebanon.

The Iranian ambassador in Damascus, Husein Sheikh al-Islam, said he has in the recent months met three times with Col. Al-Assad and that they discussed in their last meeting (last Sunday) several proposals for Bashar's visit to Iran, "but no fixed date has been set for this visit."

The Iranian ambassador indicated that he handed over Bashar a message to President Hafez al-Assad from Iranian President Muhammad Khatami pertaining to "setting up an economic fund affiliated to the Organization of the Islamic Conference."

As it is expected that the son of the Syrian president will leave shortly for the UAE, his visit to Cairo has not been set yet.

Well-informed sources in Damascus said that contacts are being made to set the date for the "official visit" that he will held to Paris before the end of this year, to be the first visit for a major foreign country.

On Tuesday Bashar met with the French presidential envoy, Herve De Charette, who is also a former French foreign minister.