Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday highlighted the importance of direct dialogue in a meeting with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the official SANA news agency reported.

"Direct dialogue could clarify a number of realities and tackle main issues which are of mutual concern between Syria and the United States as well as the security of the region," Assad was quoted as saying.

The president confirmed to Pelosi and her delegation that their visit to Syria "conveys a clear message that dialogue and peace are a common language among nations," the report said.

Assad also renewed Syria's commitment to peace which he described as a "strategic option."

For her part, Pelosi stressed that her visit to Syria aimed at "opening horizons of dialogue" between Syria and the United States to deal with main regional issues.

She said she and her delegation took positive impressions after arriving in Syria, SANA said.

Pelosi, the most senior U.S. politician to come to the Syrian capital in years, also held talks with Vice President Farouk al- Shara and Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem on Wednesday.

Her trip was criticized as undermining the U.S. efforts to isolate the Arab state by the White House which accuses Damascus of supporting terror organizations and doing little to stop militants and weapons from infiltrating into Iraq.

Defining their talks here as "productive," Pelosi told reporters that she received assurances from Assad that he was ready to engage in peace talks with Israel and that she had conveyed the Israeli message for peace negotiations with Syria as well.

The two sides also discussed the crises in neighboring Iraq and Lebanon, the report added.

Assad underlined Syria's keenness to Iraq's unity and independence, stability and security through a comprehensive national reconciliation and a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops.

Regarding the situation in Lebanon, Assad noted that accordance among the Lebanese is the basic factor to tackle the main issues in the country while reiterating Syria's full support to efforts in achieving stability there.

While Pelosi said the delegation raised their concerns about militants infiltrating from Syria into Iraq and the Israeli soldiers kidnapped by the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah movement and the Palestinian militant groups, in addition to Syria's connection with Hezbollah and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

Relations between Washington and Damascus have been strained since 2003 as Syria strongly objected the U.S. invasion of Iraq and blamed the U.S.-led occupation for the turbulences in the country ever after.

The ties further deteriorated following the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005, after which Washington withdrew its ambassador to Damascus for Syria's alleged role in the killing. Syria denied any involvement although a UN probe has implicated senior Syrian officials in the case.

Washington, which had since refused high-level contacts with Damascus, has been under pressure to engage directly with Syria to help quiet down upgrading turmoil in Iraq.

The U.S. bipartisan Iraq Study Group has urged the Bush administration to engage in talks with Syria and Iran over Iraq. However, the White House has largely ignored the suggestion.

Source: Xinhua