PARIS (AFP) — Syrian President Bashar al-Assad made a strong comeback on the international stage Saturday as President Nicolas Sarkozy welcomed him to France and announced he would soon pay a visit to Damascus.
After years of being shunned by former leader Jacques Chirac, Assad was given a red-carpet treatment at the Elysee palace where he reviewed an honour guard and held talks with Sarkozy.
The Elysee said Sarkozy would pay the first visit by a French president to Syria since 2002, with the landmark trip to take place some time before mid-September.
Stepping up France's Middle East diplomacy, Sarkozy announced that Syria and Lebanon had decided to establish diplomatic relations, opening up embassies in each country's capitals for the first time since their independence.
"It is important that Syria takes on a full role in the affairs of the region," Sarkozy said following the talks, describing France's revived dialogue with Syria as "clear-sighted, frank and loyal."
"Syria plays an essential role," he said at a joint news conference with Assad and Lebanese President Michel Sleiman who confirmed they planned to exchange ambassadors.
While the United States still brands Syria a terror state, France has moved to renew high-level ties that went into a deep freeze after the 2005 assassination of Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, who was a personal friend of Chirac.
The former president cut off all high-level contacts with Syria, a former French colony, after repeatedly accusing Damascus of having a hand in Hariri's assassination. Syria has denied the claims.
Despite the display of bonhomie, Assad and Sarkozy disagreed over Iran, with the Syrian leader asserting that Tehran was not seeking to obtain nuclear weapons.
But Sarkozy pointedly asked Syria to convince Iran to "provide proof, not just intentions, but proof" that its nuclear programme was for peaceful purposes.
Assad is to join some 40 leaders from Europe, the Middle East and north Africa on Sunday for the founding summit of the Union for the Mediterranean.
Sarkozy's flagship project, the union will seek to cement a partnership between Europe and the countries of the Mediterranean rim including Arab countries and Israel.
France had floated the idea of a historic meeting between Assad and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on the sidelines of the summit, but both sides played down prospects for holding the first direct talks.
Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner hailed progress in Israeli-Syrian peace talks as well as the Syrian-Lebanon negotiations.
"There is a wind of hope" in the Middle East, Kouchner said. "Something appears to be starting."
Israel and Syria, which technically remain at war ever since the creation of the Jewish state in 1948, have held three rounds of indirect talks through Turkey since March, raising peace prospects after an eight-year break.
After the election in May of Lebanon's Sleiman under a power-sharing deal, Sarkozy moved to reward Assad by renewing high-level contacts.
France and the United States had called on Lebanon and Syria to establish full diplomatic relations to bolster stability after Damascus pulled its troops out of Lebanon in 2005, ending nearly three decades of military presence.
While the United States initially reacted coolly to France's rapprochement with Syria, Washington has since asserted it is confident Sarkozy is conveying the right message to Damascus on its role in the Middle East.
On Monday, the 42-year-old Syrian leader joins about a dozen leaders to watch the annual Bastille Day military parade on the Champs Elysees during France's national celebrations.
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