Lebanese President Emile Lahoud on Thursday called for having excellent relations with Syria and welcomed Arab initiatives aimed at that objective.

Lahoud made the remarks during a meeting with visiting Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol.

Lahoud told the guest that "whenever the Lebanese-Syrian relations are good, they reflect positively on the interests of the people in the two states."

However, whenever such relations receive a setback, "this affects negatively the interests of the people in the two states which belong to the same environment", he added.

The Lebanese president, meanwhile, praised the Sudanese mediation between Lebanon and Syria, saying that the Sudanese leadership embarked on such a mission in the interest of Arab solidarity.

After the meeting, Akol told reporters that "we are optimistic that our initiative would lead to laying down solid grounds between Lebanon and Syria. Our efforts have not stopped, and we believe that we have made some progress."

The Sudanese foreign minister arrived in Lebanon on Wednesday for a three-day visit. He delivered a letter from Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to Lahoud, without revealing details of the letter.

Source: Xinhua