DAMASCUS, 24 July 2004 — Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi yesterday called for a “new era of cooperation and coordination” with Syria as he began a three-day official visit to the country.
“We must begin a new fraternal and sincere era of cooperation and coordination after the fall of the dictatorial regime in Iraq and the transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqi people,” Allawi told reporters.
Speaking as he arrived in Damascus on the third leg of a Middle Eastern tour, his first as prime minister, Allawi said he wanted to “build solid and complementary relations based on the interests” of Syria and Iraq.
Allawi, who is traveling with several ministers, was greeted at the airport by his Syrian counterpart, Mohammad Naji Otri, who said he was “optimistic” that the visit would “strengthen the relations of fraternal cooperation in the economic, trade and political domains,” the official news agency SANA reported.
The Iraqi leader thanked Syria “for having in the past taken in Iraqis who struggled against the dictatorial regime” of ousted president Saddam Hussein, saying: “Syria always played a prominent role in welcoming” Saddam’s opponents.
Iraq and Syria broke off diplomatic ties in 1980. Twenty years later Iraq opened an interest section in Damascus, followed in 2001 with a Syrian presence at the same level in Baghdad.
Allawi was to have talks later yesterday with Otri and meet Syrian President Bashar Assad and Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam today.
He said he would discuss “important economic and security questions” with Syrian officials, while diplomats said the issue of Iraqi funds deposited in Syrian banks are also likely on the agenda.
Allawi, who has made stops in Jordan and Egypt, will also visit Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
Syria has repeatedly denied US allegations that it backs insurgents battling US-led forces in Iraq. Damascus praised the June 28 handover of power from the US-led coalition to Allawi’s interim government as a step toward “full sovereignty.”
