By NNN-KUNA,
Kuwait : Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has hailed the key role played by Kuwait and its political leaders in cementing inter-Arab relations.
Concluding a two-day visit to Kuwait Wednesday, Al-Assad, the current president of the Arab summit, said in statements to the press he wants to visit all Arab countries iron out all differences among them “but the possibility hinges on the desire of each country.”
“When a time schedule for the visits is developed in line with engagements of every Arab leader the visits will take place,” he pointed out.
“Kuwait makes concerted efforts with Syria to improve the inter-Arab relations but can not, of course, take part in the arrangement of the schedule of the visits,” he made clear.
Regarding the investment atmosphere in Syria, Al-Assad said his government offered great incentives to investors and developed large number of investment-friendly legislation. “Syria is trying to overcome the challenges in the investment sector which was neglected for more than 50 years.
“It started to improve the financial, economic and administrative regulations to encourage investments,” he underscored.
During his visits to Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, Al-Assad met a number of major Kuwaiti, UAE and Syrian investors and business people. “I did not seek to persuade them of the promising investments in Syria as they are aware of the ins and outs of the investment atmosphere there.
“I, rather sought to get acquainted with their proposals and suggestions on ways to improve the administrative aspect of investment and remove the red tape obstacles,” he made clear.
“The Syrian government can not replace private investors, so it has to listen to the suggestions and demands of investors in order to promote joint enterprises between Syrian and Gulf private sector investors.
“The Gulf, especially the Kuwaiti, investments in Syria are growing steadily,” the president asserted.
Dealing with the Kuwaiti-Syrian security cooperation against the backdrop of reports on the infiltration of three Kuwaiti youths to Iraq via the Syrian borders, Al-Assad said any Arab citizen could enter Syria without the need to get a permit or a visa.
“Syria, however, realises the importance of security cooperation with other Arab countries to combat terrorism and intercept terrorists. In case of failure to identify a person as terrorist, how could the Syrian authorities bar them from entering the county,” he said.
“If we are sure that someone is a terrorist, we apprehend them and extradite them to their respective countries,” he added.
Al-Assad wrapped up a two-day visit to Kuwait during which he received the Emir at his residence at the Bayan Palace in Kuwait city earlier in the day to discuss bilateral relations and other regional issues of common concern.
On inter-Arab relations, Al-Assad affirmed Syria’s keenness on unifying Arab ranks, especially ahead of the Damascus summit last March, pointing to the role of Kuwait and other Arab countries in this context, “but all such efforts failed”.
He denied that Syria might be at loggerheads with Egypt and Saudi Arabia. But, he said, “As Arabs, we may have divergent views.” Inter-Arab ties can be further improved, should Arab nations be able to understand each other’s circumstances, he said.
He said he was upbeat that ties and bonds among all Arab nations would be improving, particularly following his meeting with the Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.
He added that there was now no reason for any disagreement following the settlement of the Lebanese issue.
On his country’s role in a solution to the issue of the UAE’s three islands with Iran, the Syrian leader said the issue had been put on the agenda of the Damascus summit, pointing to Syrian support for the UAE claim to the islands through dialogue and peaceful means.
But, Syria can not take any move unless it is requested by the UAE, he said. “If the UAE asks us to move, then we can discuss the issue with the Iranian side.”
Asked about his speech following the recent Israeli aggression on Lebanon, which was viewed by some as having been directed at some Arab leaders, the Syrian president said: “The problem was caused by the mass media as I went to the Riyadh summit and met Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and I clarified the position to them. Thus, the issue became a thing of the past and has nothing to do whatsoever with what is happening now.”
Addressing reporters, Al-Assaid said: “If you ask me if Syria has a problem with Egypt and Saudi Arabia, I reaffirm that there is no problem on our part. As I have just said, only stances need to be unified.”
On the domestic situation, the Syrian leader said Syria had a clear-cut internal policy and had visions to develop the country and achieve more stability. “This is the essence of our policy, on which we focus so we do not care about what is being said,” he said, referring to a press question on the so-called “Damascus Spring”.
The Damascus Spring was a period of intense political and social debate in Syria which started after the death of President Hafez Al-Assad in June 2000 and continued to some degree until autumn 2001 when most of the activities associated with it were suppressed by the government.
“The Damascus Spring is a pure media term with which the Syrian government does not deal. It only deals with reality,” he said.
The government has commenced steps towards opening up and there are priorities that need to be notched up, especially those pertinent to raising the living standards of Syrian citizens, he said.
He added that since he took over in 2000 his county had begun development at a critical stage in the region, which coincided with the Palestinian Intifada in September of the same year.
Like any other country in the world, Syria has problems bearing on development, not to mention obstacles and bureaucracy, he said. “There are also other problems imposed on us from abroad, making us delay development projects and reverse priorities; mainly including the Iraq war, Lebanon and terrorism,” Al-Assad added.
Asked about a reported Saudi scheme to topple the ruling regime in Syria, he said: “These are lies. I have only heard about such a scheme through the mass media.”
Concerning the Muslim Brotherhood Group, he said: “We are on good terms with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Jordan and Palestine. But, regarding the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, we have had dialogue with them, and some of them, including leaders, have returned (from abroad to Syria) and are now leading normal lives.”
“We deal with them as individuals, rather than a party,” he affirmed. But, he blasted those who used to attack the state, betted on US pressure and cooperated with external bodies.
On the Israeli track, Al-Assad accused Israel of terrorism in response to a question on Syrian support for Hezbollah and Hamas, which are billed by major countries and Israel as terrorist groups.
He said: “We do not care about appellations. The late US President Ronald Reagan hailed Al-Qaeda as holy fighters.”
Asked if Syria could sacrifice its relations with Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas in return for peace, he said: “We can not accept preconditions on us, bearing on countries that have nothing to do with the peace march. Shall we lose our relations with the world just for the sake of forging relations with Israel?”
On Syrian-Israeli peace talks, he said Syria had begun face-to-face negotiations with Israel in 1990, having reached the land-for-peace principle and UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338. But, Syria has lost confidence in Israel since such negotiations came to a halt.
“Syria is now in the stage of indirect negotiations in Turkey through a Turkish mediator. In case of a common ground for negotiations, there will be public talks just as was the case in 1990,” Al-Assad said.
But, the Israeli side insists on scrapping all previous agreements, something which indicates that Israel is not earnest about peace, he said.
On Lebanon, the Syrian president showed optimism over the situation in Lebanon following the Doha Accord among all Lebanese rivals. But, he said: “Supporting Lebanon means that we have to stand side by side with it, but not to stand on behalf of it. As Arabs, we have to understand that our role is to help Lebanon, but the key solution, development, improvement in the situation and optimism are contingent upon Lebanon, rather than upon us.”
Asked when Syria would recognise Lebanon’s sovereignty and have diplomatic representation there, al-Assad said: “We recognised Lebanon in 1976, but the issue of embassies was not on the table as the Syrian-Lebanese Supreme Council was in place of the embassy and had a dynamic structure.”
“How can we fail to recognise Lebanon while we have official bilateral agreements? How can we hammer out an official deal involving the border, customs and agriculture with a party that we do not recognise?” he said.
“Our precondition was that there should be a national unity government with which we should be on good terms. It goes without saying that we will have good ties with a unity government that represents all Lebanese parties.”
On Syrian cooperation with investigations into the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, Al-Assad said there was really cooperation between Damascus and different probe committees immediately following the assassination.
Regarding the situation in Iraq, especially as the US blames Syria for border infiltrations into Iraq, Al-Assad said: “We wish that they can finally determine their opinion. One day, they say Syria fails to play its due role. On another day, they say the situation has improved, but Syria should exert more effort.”
On control over the border between Syria and Turkey, he attributed this to cooperation between both sides in this regard, unlike the situation in Iraq, where there is no cooperation from Iraq or the US.
On reports accusing some Arab intelligence agencies of assassinating Hezbollah commander Imad Moghaniyah, he said: “We have no evidence at all that an Arab country is involved in the assassination of Imad Moghaniyah. These are only rumours. If clear-cut information is made available, we will make it public soon.”
On Syrian-Hamas relations, Al-Assad said Hamas was a key player in the Palestinian arena so if Syria or any other Arab country was required to play any role in the Palestinian issue, then it had to work with Palestinian factions, mainly Hamas.
But, he said: “Our relation with Hamas can not be at the expense of our relation with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas or Fatah organisation. We have historic ties with Fatah and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). Our aim of all such relations is to achieve Palestinian unity without which the Palestinians will be unable to set up their state.”
On an imminent visit by an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) delegation to Syria on an alleged nuclear reactor, the Syrian president said the IAEA team would visit Damascus at the invitation of the Syrian government. Israel said it had destroyed an alleged nuclear reactor in Syria in an air raid on the country.
On Syrian-French ties, Al-Assad spoke highly of the role played by Paris as “important and a factor of balance vis-@-vis the US role.” On French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s recent comments that Al-Assad would attend the coming Mediterranean summit, he said: “We are having dialogue with the Europeans on the details of the summit. We have agreed with the French on sending a delegation within a couple of weeks to discuss some reservations. Accordingly, a decision will be made on attending the summit.”
But, he stressed the importance of the summit, which he wished would not negatively affect Arab, including Syrian, interests.
On Damascus-Washington relations, the Syrian leader said: “We had several meetings with the Americans, including one between the Syrian foreign minister and his US counterpart. We also received congressional delegations carrying messages from the US Administration. They come to us to its knowledge, but they seem to be wont to retain their positions that they are against Syria even though they have security meetings with the Iranians.”