President al-Assad Meets Ahmadinejad, Holds Joint Press Conference
Thursday, July 19, 2007 - 10:50 PM
www.sana.org/eng/21/2007/07/19/129946.htm

DAMASCUS, (SANA - Syrian news agency) President Bashar al-Assad and
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran held a binary meeting followed by a
plenary one. The Plenary meeting was attended by members of the Syrian and
Iranian official delegations.

Following the meeting Presidents al-Assad and Ahmadinejad held a press
conference.

" I would seize the opportunity to congratulate President Bashar al-Assad on
the occasion of his inauguration and taking the constitutional oath as
President of the Syrian Arab Republic for a second term of office."
Ahmedinejad said in a joint press conference with President al-Assad.

The Iranian President called on enemies of the region who try to trouble it
to abandon their hostile schemes.

" The enemies of the region should abandon plans to attack the interests of
this region, or they would be burned by the wrath of the region's peoples, "
he said

He went on to say: " We hope that the hot weather of this summer would
coincide with similar victories for the region's peoples, and with
consequent defeat for the region's enemies,"

Ahmadinejad depicted the Syrian-Iranian relations as "cordial, excellent and
extremely deep," adding that "the two countries share common stands on
regional issues and face common challenges."

President al-Assad welcomed his Iranian counterpart and the accompanying
delegation and said: " this visit comes in the framework of the continuous
coordination between Syria and Iran indeed, and we see that ties between the
two countries are developing more and more,"

He added: " what makes this visit more distinguished than the previous ones
between me and President Ahmadinejad or between us as officials at the two
countries is the quick and urgent changing of circumstances surrounding us
even between this meeting and the previous meeting last February in Tehran,"

President al-Assad added "what distinguishes this visit and the atmospheres
today is the big satisfaction due to the wide range vision of the
Syrian-Iranian policy which proved its correctness more than before, saying
that" atmosphere of comfort, optimism and confidence prevailed all axis of
the talks,"

President al-Assad pointed out that talks with his Iranian counterpart
covered Iraq's situation, latest developments on the Palestinian arena,
means of re-holding dialogue among the different Palestinian factions."
Discussions also covered Lebanon and the way of keeping Lebanon's stability
in addition to Syrian -Iranian consultations with the active countries in
the region regarding these issues." President al-Assad added.

" We shortly spoke on the bilateral relations and we will continue our talks
about these ties ," he said, adding: " Syrian-Iranian relations are swiftly
and continuously developing and we are very optimistic of the visit 's axis,
outcome and of the region's future too .

Concluding the press conference, the Iranian President greeted all the
Syrian people for their good election, saying that Syrian people's opinion
was for dignity sake.

Later, Vice President Farouk al-Shara met with Iranian Foreign Minister
Manouchehr Mottaki with the presence of Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem
and Assistant Vice President in addition to Syria's ambassador in Tehran.

President al-Assad gave a dinner banquet in honor of President Ahmedinejad
and the accompanying delegation. The banquet was attended by members of the
two delegations.

Thawra/ Ghossoun