Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem met with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at her request, according to the Syrian SANA news agency. This event was in addition to a meeting called for by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, to follow up the work of the Arab peace initiative and the quadripartite international committee.

SANA reported that the discussion between Mouallem and Rice concentrated on regional issues, including the situations in Iraq, Lebanon, and Darfur, in addition to Syria’s ongoing indirect peace negotiations with Israel that are being facilitated by Turkey. Rice said that the US was satisfied with the positive steps being taken in the Middle East and expressed the US’s readiness to achieve peace in the region. 

-NOW Staff