SANA: Pelosi Describes Talks with President al-Assad as Productive

US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
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Pelosi Describes Talks with President al-Assad as Productive

Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday described her talks with President Bashar al-Assad as productive, saying "we came in friendship, hope, and determined that the road to Damascus is a road to peace. Our visit to Syria was very necessary based on Baker- Hamilton Committee recommendations on Iraq and on the determination of Head of the House Foreign Affairs to visit Syria; Mrs. Pelosi told a news conference with Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem."She added "the US delegation talks in Damascus concentrated on the necessity of achieving peace in the Middle East, combating terrorism and on regional issues", stressing that peace in the Middle East is of priority for the American people, the region and the world.

Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, for his part, underlined Syria's readiness to engage in dialogue, based on mutual respect, renewing Syria's commitment to achieve the just and comprehensive peace based on Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Arab lands including the Syrian Golan. "Differences in viewpoints between Syria and the US was because of the absence of dialogue and because Syria lives in this region which witnesses disorder," Minister Moallem said, describing the visit as a contribution to narrowing the gap of those differences."This visit paves the way for a constructive dialogue in future to hold best relations between the Syrian and American peoples," Foreign Minister added. Note EU-Digest: The visit of Mrs. Pelosi to Syria shows once again that dialog is always preferable to hostile actions and the US Speaker of the House and her bipartisan congressional delegation should be complimentated for this courages initiative.