Syria reasserts commitment to dialogue with U.S.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al- Muallem reasserted on Thursday that his country remained committed to dialogue with the United States on all different issues.

He made the remarks in a meeting with visiting U.S. Republican lawmaker Darrell Issa, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives whose trip came one day after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Syria, the official SANA news agency reported.

Al-Muallem and Issa discussed the latest developments in the Middle East region and Syrian-U.S. relations and asserted the importance of the visits by U.S. lawmakers here which helped find a joint vision to solutions of the standing problems in the region, SANA said.

For his part, Issa indicated the significance of continuing dialogue between Syria and the United States, adding that the latest visits of U.S. lawmakers constitute "a new start that pushes to optimism and a joint action for solving the pending issues between the two countries".

Issa also held a meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

In a statement to reporters after the talks, Issa described the meetings as "very productive and dealt with a number of issues of mutual concern."

"The United States will appoint a new ambassador to Syria in some stage," he said, adding that "we will urge the U.S. Administration to conduct a dialogue with Syria."

Issa's trip to Damascus was the third by U.S. lawmakers in a week. Three U.S. Republican house lawmakers held talks with Syrian leaders on Sunday before Pelosi who has just wrapped up her visit on Wednesday. Pelosi was the highest-level U.S. politician to come here in years.

U.S.-Syrian ties have been tense 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 U.S. accused Damascus of doing little to stop militants and weapons from crossing into Iraq and destabilize situation there.

Washington withdrew its ambassador to Damascus for Syria's alleged role in the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005 and had since refused high-level contacts with Damascus.

Source: Xinhua