Martin meets Syrian president in mideast tour

FOREIGN Affairs Minister Micheál Martin will sit down with the president of Syria today during the first stage of a diplomatic tour of the Middle East.

Mr Martin will meet President Bashar al Assad and with the country’s senior Sunni Muslim cleric at separate events in Damascus.

On Tuesday, he will travel to Lebanon where he will visit Irish troops serving on United Nations peacekeeping duty in an area still recovering from a war three years ago.

His visit comes while a tenuous ceasefire continues in neighbouring Israel after it sent troops into Palestinian controlled Gaza.

And the region is also awaiting the effects of the first regional elections in Iraq since the American invasion.

Mr Martin said he will press for Syria and Lebanon to use their influence to further reconstruction efforts in Gaza and help to stabilise the region.

“Syria and Lebanon are two strategically important countries in the region and I look forward to discussing with their leaders the many challenges which the international community faces in the aftermath of the Gaza conflict.

“I also look forward to discussing the wider issues of how to promote inter -Palestinian reconciliation and revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process,” Mr Martin said.

The Syrian-Lebanese axis has become increasingly prominent in the post-September 11, 2001 climate.

Syria’s role in the assassination of last Lebanese president has been investigated and close ties with the current president, Michel Suleiman, have given rise to the belief his government is subject to President Assad’s wishes.

However, international relations with Syria have improved and the European Union has worked to develop a more structured relationship with the county.

Syria’s links to Palestine’s Hamas movement has provoked widespread criticism, however, particularly from former US President George W Bush. But even America has sent delegations to the country recently and there is recognition that any lasting peace in the Middle East would be impossible without Syria’s involvement in the deal-making process.

Mr Martin said he is particularly keen to hear President Assad’s perspective on efforts by the American President Barack Obama to broker an agreement.

“I will be interested to hear Syrian and Lebanese views and assessments of the recent improvement in their own bilateral relations as well as such other important developments... and the welcome renewed involvement of the US in the peace process,” he said.

Syria’s growing population and oil riches however, have also made it one of the regions most promising economies.

And the economy will be high on the agenda when Mr Martin meets President Assad.

Once he has finished in Syria and Lebanon Mr Martin will fly to the United Arab Emirates where he will link up with President Mary McAleese, who is leading a trade delegation to the country this week.