PARIS (AFP) — Syria's culture minister is in Paris on an official visit, the first by a Syrian government member in three years, the French foreign ministry said Tuesday, hailing a "new page" in relations.
The visit by Culture Minister Riad Naassan Agha follows a decision by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to renew ties with Damascus, in reponse to the recent breakthough in Lebanon's drawn-out political crisis.
"This visit is part of a new page we hope will be turned and written in relations between France and Syria, insofar as recent positive developments continue," said foreign ministry spokeswoman Pascale Andreani.
"This is an official visit," she said, adding that Naassan Agha was to meet his French counterpart Christine Albanel later on Tuesday.
Syria for almost three decades was the powerbroker in Lebanon, a longtime focal point of French interest in the Middle East.
Visiting Beirut Saturday to underscore French support for new Lebanese President Michel Sleiman, Sarkozy said a "new page may be opening in relations between France and Syria".
Paris suspended ties with Syria last year over the crisis between pro- and anti-Syrian political camps in Lebanon, which degenerated into violence killing 65 people before the two sides finally reached agreement on May 21 in Doha.
The deal led to the election of then army chief and consensus candidate Sleiman after a six-month vacuum in the presidency.
France and the United States have accused Syria, through its supporters in the Lebanese opposition, of meddling in Beirut's political life, a charge denied by Damascus.
Syria meanwhile remains under suspicion of involvement in the February 2005 assassination in Beirut of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, who was close to then French president Jacques Chirac.
The US State Department reacted with caution Monday when asked about plans by Sarkozy to renew ties with Syria, saying that Washington would discuss the issue with Paris.
In an interview with Beirut newspapers last week, Sarkozy said France "would resume contacts with Syria only when positive, concrete developments occurred in Lebanon with a view to getting out of the crisis.
"One has to concede that the Doha accord, the election of President (Michel) Sleiman and the return of Fuad Siniora as prime minister are such developments," Sarkozy said.
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