DAMASCUS HOSTS ARMENIAN DELEGATION
United Press International UPI
/Damascus-hosts-Armenian-delegation/UPI-3067126573 8888/
Feb 9 2010
DAMASCUS, Syria, Feb. 9 (UPI) — Damascus welcomed a delegation from
Armenia on Tuesday to discuss strengthening bilateral relations and
regional issues.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem welcomed Armenian Deputy
Foreign Minister Arman Kirakosyan to Damascus to take part in bilateral
discussions on regional affairs.
Kirakosyan said high-level exchanges between the two countries gave
new quality to their level of friendship, the Public Radio of Armenia
reports.
Damascus hopes to strengthen its regional position in the community.
Washington dispatched top diplomats to Damascus last year in the
hopes of reaching a variety of agreements with Syrian officials on
issues ranging from Lebanon to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Armenia, for its part, is wrestling with its own regional complications
over Nagorno-Karabakh.
War broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh
in the early 1990s, and the regional fallout from that row remains
tense despite a 1994 cease-fire.
The Minsk group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe, led by France, Russia and the United States, is leading peace
negotiations aimed at settling the conflict of the disputed region
of Nagorno-Karabakh.