KUWAIT CITY, (Islamweb & News Agencies) -Syrian President Bashar al-Assad held talks in Kuwait city Saturday with Crown Prince Sheikh Saad Abdullah al-Sabah and other top Kuwaiti officials, a report said.
Apart from his meeting with Sheikh Saad, who is also prime minister, Assad met in the early evening with Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, the official KUNA news agency said, but did not elaborate on the talks.
The Syrian leader, on his first trip to Kuwait since taking office a year ago, was earlier met at the airport by Emir Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah, as well as the crown prince and other top Kuwaiti officials.(Read photo caption below)
The two-day visit is expected to focus on the Israeli-Arab conflict and political and economic cooperation between the two Arab nations.
It is also expected to tackle the condition between Kuwait and its former occupier Iraq, and follows a visit earlier this month by Syrian Prime Minister Mustafa Miro to Baghdad, where he signed a series of cooperation agreements.
The foreign minister said the emirate was unaware of an initiative by Assad to hold a three-way meeting between Iraq, Kuwait and Syria, according to a report in Al-Seyassah daily on Saturday.
Kuwait and Syria signed Thursday three cooperation agreements on administration, agriculture and investment at the end of a joint ministerial meeting held in Damascus.
Over the past three decades, the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development granted Syria over one billion dollars in loans for development projects, most of which came after the 1990 Iraqi invasion of the oil-rich emirate.
Syria fought alongside a US-led coalition which ousted Iraqi occupation troops from Kuwait in the 1991 Gulf War. But Damascus and Baghdad started to normalise ties in 1997 with the restoration of economic links.
In January, Syrian Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara, who is accompanying Assad, renewed his country's support for the territorial integrity of Kuwait, following claims to the territory in Iraq's official press.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Syrian President Bashar Assad, left, stands besides Kuwait's emir Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah after arriving to the Kuwait International Airport Saturday, Aug. 18,2001. (AP Photo/Gustavo Ferrari)
- Aug 18 3:26 PM ET