RIYADH, 25 March 2006 — Syrian Vice President Farouk Shara arrived here yesterday on the second leg of his trip to the region. He visited Egypt on Thursday.
Shara delivered a letter from President Bashar Assad to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah. He also met with Crown Prince Sultan, deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, and Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal.
According to a Syrian source, Shara held talks with the Saudi leadership on several issues, mainly the developments in the region including the situation in Iraq and Palestine and on preparations for the upcoming Arab summit in Khartoum.
Shara also discussed with the Saudi leadership ways to develop bilateral relations in all aspects.
“The vice president confirmed Syria’s commitment to developing Arab cooperation in all fields,” said Syrian Ambassador to the Kingdom Ahmed Nithamuldeen.
He said the vice president briefed the Saudi leadership on recent events in Syrian-Lebanese relations and said Shara’s visit to the Kingdom was part of the vice president’s agenda to hold talks with Arab leaders on general developments in the region.
The Syrian official could neither confirm nor deny reports that the Kingdom or Egypt would be a mediator in easing tensions between Syria and Lebanon.
Nithamuldeen did not answer whether the two sides discussed developments of the UN investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, saying only that his country was cooperating. “Syria is cooperating fully with the investigation,” he said. “The outcome of the investigation concerns us like another country, which is that the truth appears... the security of Lebanon is the security of Syria, and vice versa,” he added.
Shara said that details of the UN’s call for the establishment of a “mixed” international tribunal to prosecute those behind the assassination of Hariri was not of interest to him, saying that commenting on such a subject was “too early.”
He also said that all of the agendas in the “national dialogue” meeting held in Beirut on Thursday concerned the Lebanese people.
“These are internal discussions between them, not between Syria and Lebanon,” he said, adding that Syria should not be held responsible if the dialogue failed.
