Syria supports India on UNSC, terrorism: Assad

Sunil Gatade
Damascus, Nov 27 (PTI) Syria Saturday came out in full
support for New Delhi's quest for a permanent seat in the UN
Security Council to make it a "more democratic, representative
and efficient" body and backed India's fight against
terrorism.
President Bashar al-Assad told his Indian counterpart
Pratibha Patil, the first Indian head of state to visit this
West Asian country, that Damascus is all for reforming the
world body to make it "more democratic, representative and
efficient."
"And on the 2nd anniversary of the terrorist Mumbai
bombings, marked yesterday, we renew our support to India in
fighting terrorism and in order to make the world more safe
and stable," he said after delegation level talks with his
Indian counterpart.
The two leaders held "very constructive" talks after
ceremonial welcome was accorded to Patil by her Syrian
counterpart and his wife Asma al-Assad at the People's Palace.
A highlight of the deliberations was Patil's
announcement about extending USD 100 million Line of Credit to
Syria to be used by Damascus in sectors to be mutually agreed
upon, keeping in view its priorities.
"One of the main reasons for (the bilateral) economic
engagement not having reached the potential is the lack of
awareness of each others' requirements and capabilities", she
said in the backdrop of the fact that the bilateral trade has
only been a mere USD 500 million.
She said that India-Syria Business Council is being
launched Sunday. It will focus on strengthening economic and
commercial links. Patil also announced that the number of
scholarships for Syria under the Indian Technical and Economic
Cooperation programme will be increased from the present 45
to 90.
"I call upon Syria to make full use of this offer."
Areas that offer enormous potential for mutually
advantageous co-operation are the phosphate sector and
tourism, Patil said hailing Syria as a beautiful country,which
like India is an inheritor of an ancient civilisation.
She said this will be the third Line of Credit to
Syria by India. The purpose behind this offer is to encourage
Indian companies to involve themselves in developmental
projects in Syria, which will give them good exposure to the
Syrian market, and would also showcase to Syria the potential
of Indian companies.
Three MoUs were also signed after the talks which
Patil described as "very constructive".
The three MoUs were a cultural cooperation agreement
between the two countries, an MoU between Press Trust of India
(PTI) and Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on media services
exchange and another between Prasar Bharati and its Syrian
counterpart. (MORE) PTI SPG
SAK


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