By Xinhua
Damascus : Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdel Mahdi arrived here Thursday afternoon for a three-day official visit.
“This visit will contribute to strengthening bilateral relations between the two brotherly countries in various fields,” Mahdi said upon arrival, underling the depth of the historical ties between Syria and Iraq.
On situation in Iraq, Mahdi said “Iraq is passing through difficult circumstances but it will overcome them.”
During his stay here, Mahdi was expected to hold talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, his deputy Farouk al-Shara and other senior officials on developments in the region and means to boost bilateral ties.
The visit of Mahdi, who is currently on a regional tour which has taken him to Egypt and will take him to Jordan, came after Damascus imposed visa restrictions to the Iraqis who wished to enter Syria to fly from the disturbances in their homeland.
Damascus began to impose the restrictions on Iraqis on Sept. 10,only permitting businessmen and academics to enter Syria, in a bidto control the influx of Iraqi refugees, who have numbered more than 1.5 million in Syria.
But it decided to suspend visa restrictions to the Iraqi refugees during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan until after Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of Ramadan on about October 12, and then visas would be required again.
The massive presence of Iraqi refugees has inflicted large economic and social security burdens on Syria and the government estimated the cost of hosting them at 1.6 billion U.S. dollar a year.