OREANDA-NEWS. May 25, 2009. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov visited Damascus on May 23-24 and took part in the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the member states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, in which Russia enjoys observer status.

During his stay in Syria, Lavrov was received by President Bashar al-Assad, to whom he handed a personal message from Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. A meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs Walid Muallem took place.

An in-depth exchange of views was held on the situation in the Near and Middle East, paying special attention to practical steps in restarting the Arab-Israeli negotiation process on all tracks, particularly in the context of the plans to convene the Moscow Conference on the Middle East.

The sides reiterated their commitment to a comprehensive Middle Eastern settlement on a generally recognized international legal basis, including the Arab peace initiative. The mutual disposition was noted towards assisting inter-Palestinian reconciliation on the PLO platform.

The ongoing confident development of political dialogue and Russian-Syrian relations in different areas was noted with satisfaction along with emphasizing the importance of building up economic, commercial and high tech cooperation and reinvigorating ties between business entities of the two countries.