Yerevan - SANA

 President Bashar al-Assad at noon Wednesday held talks with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan in Yerevan.

In a joint press conference following the meeting, President al-Assad underlined the need for moving forward quickly in relations between Syria and Armenia.

President al-Assad said his talks with President Sargsyan were rich in topics and dealt with several issues in the Middle East, Central Asia and the Caucasus region.

The President said this is the first visit of a Syrian President to Armenia after its independence, adding "ties between the two countries couldn't be evaluated through the official side, but through their historic and popular sides."

"The two nations have passed through difficult historical stages during the last centuries that led to a rapprochement among them, this rapprochement was genuine that embodied in the Syrians of an Armenian origin who live in Syria as Syrian citizens since they came to Syria," President al-Assad said.

President al-Assad added that he expressed to President Sargsyan Syria's considerable relief over the steps taken in regards to Turkish-Armenian relations, affirming Syria's desire to work for pushing these relations forward based on the strong relations between Syria and Turkey and between Syria and Armenia.

"I listened to President Sargsian's viewpoint on the critical issue of Karabakh, expressing hope this matter won't be permanent crisis, because the critical problems, as we experienced in the Middle East, become more complicated and more difficult," President al-Assad said.

The President added "I wanted to listen to President Sargsian's viewpoint before my first visit to Azerbaijan, expected soon, to see how we could help solve this problem if there was a possibility for this help."

President al-Assad pointed out that he explained to President Sargsyan the Syrian vision regarding the Middle Ease issue, particularly the paralyzed and stalled peace process, since there is no Israeli partner for peace.

"We don't see this partner in the near future. This doesn't mean that we will stop talking or working for peace, and when that partner is ready, the peace plan will be ready directly for implementation and we will save time." President al-Assad said.

President al-Assad added that talks with President Sargsyan dealt with the Palestinian situation, particularly the great human suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza Strip due to the Israeli siege and the lack of services, with children and elderly dying continuously and on daily basis.

Answering a question for the Armenian TV channel 2 on President al-Assad's impression about Armenia and the Armenian people, President al-Assad made clear that "we, in Syria, know a lot of the Armenian people not through what we read in books, but through our daily relations with the details of this country, through part of its culture which live a daily merger with our culture in Syria, and these details are represented by the Syrian citizens of an Armenian origin."

For his part, President Sargsian said "following independence, our relations with Syria have developed to a qualitative good level, and of course, one of the main directions in Armenia's foreign policy was boosting relations with the Middle East… Syria and Armenia cooperate in an effective way on bilateral level and there is a necessity to develop trade and economic ties between the two countries."

He added "though there are some small issues, we have to take steps to solve the main important issues to boost trade relations. This will be done with the help of the forum of the businessmen that will be opened tomorrow in Yerevan."

The Armenian President said that the two countries today signed a number of documents that help develop bilateral relations between the two countries, particularly on encouraging and protecting investments.

"Regarding today's talks, we discussed with President al-Assad bilateral relations between the two countries in details… there is complete understanding on the issues discussed and we agreed to continue meetings and discussions on highest levels," President Sargsian said.