Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace
Share on GoogleHariri inks 17 new bilateral accords during Syria visit
|
|
Mon, Jul 07 2010 |
On his fourth visit to Syria since taking office in 2009, Hariri urged closer bilateral ties, joined in the call by his Syrian counterpart Naji Otari, a statement by the Syrian state-run News Agency (SANA) said.
Hariri, who arrived Sunday morning at Damascus International Airport, was received by Otari and together co-chaired a meeting of a Lebanese-Syrian ministerial delegation that ratified the agreements.
Agreements signed included a drugs control cooperation accord and an agreement on the transfer of sentenced individuals, as well as accords on consumer and investment protection, pharmaceutical products, shipping, tourism and preventing double taxation.
Both Otari and Hariri were later received by President Bashar Assad, who also stressed the need to put these agreements into action.
Of the pending issues with Damascus that remain the subject of Lebanese domestic debate and international talks, the issue of the border demarcation tops the agenda.
During a joint news conference with Otari, Hariri said that a committee set up by the two countries to demarcate the border “has to begin its work and finish it as soon as possible.”
Otari said cooperation between Syria and its neighbor had to extend to security. Syria agreed with Lebanon in 2008 to demarcate the border, two years after UN Security Council Resolution 1701 recommended that Syria address the issue.
But Damascus has stalled the process since then, saying its technical teams were busy finishing border demarcation with Jordan and that a small Lebanese region occupied by Israel and bordering Syria complicated any demarcation.
Both the US and France demand that Damascus begin the demarcation to prevent arms smuggling to Hizbullah.
“Assad and Hariri underlined the need to adopt an action plan to implement inked agreements, eliminate obstacles facing them and more importantly seek new horizons of cooperation to follow up on a joint action plan in the framework of a comprehensive strategy to achieve complementarity between Lebanon and Syria,” a statement by SANA said.
On the sidelines of the meeting, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem told reporters that the border demarcation process required “a social vision” on the popular level between Lebanese and Syrian families.
The Lebanese and Syrian committees also delegated the joint committee for border demarcation to kick off the process swiftly.
Addressing the issue of missing Lebanese in Syria, Hariri and Otari said the joint committee appointed to investigate the case was asked to submit its recommendations on the issue.
Asked whether Lebanese domestic conflicts would impact the progress in Syrian-Lebanese ties, Hariri stressed that he was the “son of Premier Rafik Hariri, a man of his word and committed to his promises,” a reference to improving ties with Damascus.
Hariri’s visit highlights positive developments in the relationship with Syria, after a five-year rupture in relations with the Lebanese parliamentary majority following the assassination of his father, former Premier Rafik Hariri.
Hariri has previously blamed Syria for the assassination but Damascus has denied any involvement.
Moallem told reporters that the United Nation’s Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is investigating the assassination, “is a Lebanese affair.”
“If irrefutable evidence demonstrates that a Syrian citizen is implicated, that person will then be tried in Syria for high treason,” Moallem said.
The killing prompted the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon after a 29-year presence in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1559.
During his first visit in December, Hariri said that he wanted to open a new page in ties with Damascus based on positive matters, following talks with Assad.
A joint statement that followed the delegations’ meeting also stressed the “importance of coordination of stances between both countries when it comes to key political issues, particularly the Arab-Israeli conflict.”
Both premiers also stressed the need to coordinate foreign, defense and security policies through the framework of joint committees as well as to promote the role of the Higher Lebanese-Syrian Council. “Syrian Premier Naji Otari stressed the importance of the higher Lebanese-Syrian Council in setting the general policies for cooperation between both countries on political, economic, security and military levels,” the statement said.
However, the joint committees didn’t ratify a security agreement as Syrian officials attributed the issue to the absence of Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr.
On the economic level, Hariri stressed that Syrian-Lebanese ties should form a model for an Arab common market. In a recent visit to Turkey, Hariri discussed the establishment of a free trade zone between Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Turkey.
Copyright Dailystar
Article Information
