Al-Sharaa confers with al-Sahaf, Beshara and contacts Berri, al-Hoss, Lord Levy and Moratinos
Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa met on Thursday night with Iraqi Foreign Minister Muhammad Saeed al-Sahaf. The meeting was attended by the Syrian deputy foreign minister, Suleiman Haddad, and on the Iraqi side the meeting was attended by the secretary of the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, Nabil Najm, and the advisor for the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, Nawaf Taqa.
Talks dealt with Arab conditions, developments concerning the Middle East peace process, and bilateral relations between Syria and Iraq.
Later in the day, the foreign minister received Israeli Knesset member Azmi Bishara and talks dealt with him with conditions in the region and Middle East peace process developments.
Meanwhile, Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said that in a lengthy telephone call he discussed with al-Sharaa the latest developments concerning the Middle East peace process.
In a statement he made in Beirut on Thursday Berri added that resuming talks on the Syrian track from the point where they broke off in 1996 is a serious step in which Syria has attained a "great victory for peace that complies with the dignity of the Arabs and the Lebanese national resistance."
On Thursday evening al-Sharaa made a telephone call to Lebanese Premier and Foreign Minister Salim al-Hoss, during which al-Sharaa briefed al-Hoss on the development of conditions in the region in light of the announcement to resume negotiations on the Syrian track next week in Washington, within the framework of cooperation and cohesion between the Syrian and Lebanese tracks.
On Thursday afternoon, the foreign minister received a telephone call from Lord Michael Levy, the personal envoy for British Prime Minister Tony Blair, during which Levy conveyed Blair's best greetings to Syrian President Hafez al-Assad. During the telephone conversation, Levy expressed the readiness of the British prime minister to take part in giving the peace talks a push forward to reach its objective of achieving a just and comprehensive peace in the region.
Lord Levy expressed his happiness over the success of the efforts made to resume the Syrian-Israeli peace talks from the point where they stopped.
Al-Sharaa also received on Thursday a similar telephone call from the European Union's Middle East peace process envoy, Miguel Angel Moratinos, during which the latter expressed his satisfaction together with the EU over the resumption of negotiations on the Syrian track from the point at which they broke off.
Moratinos stressed the EU's readiness to offer all possible aid for the success of these negotiations so as to reach a just and comprehensive peace in the region.
