Visiting Austrian parliament speaker Heinz Fischer held talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad and other officials Thursday on regional questions and ties between Damascus and Vienna, Syrian sources said.
Assad's spokesman Gebran Kourieh said they discussed "developments in the Middle East and the expansion of relations" between Syria and Austria, in talks also attended by Fischer's Syrian counterpart Abdel Qader Qaddura.
Another official source said Fischer had earlier talked with Prime Minister Mohammad Mustapha Mero about "ways to boost economic, commercial and cultural cooperation between Syria and the European Union."
He also met Foreign Minister Farouq Shara on "the stalled Middle East peace process and the need to activate a European role" in the region.
Relations are generally good between Syria and Austria, which has some 500 men serving with United Nations peacekeeping troops on the disputed Israeli-occupied Golan Heights - DAMASCUS (AFP)
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