Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
Jeddah, SANA- President Bashar al-Assad met on Friday Tunisian President Kais bin Said on the sidelines of his participation in the Arab Summit which starts its works in the Saudi city of Jeddah.
The two Presidents discussed the bilateral relations and cooperation between the two brotherly countries in various domains.
During the meeting, President al-Assad welcomed the return of normal and historical relations between Syria and Tunisia, hailing the necessity of enhancing these relations not only on the political and economic levels, but also on the cultural, intellectual and popular levels.
President al-Assad also pointed out that the officials and ambassadors of the two countries have a lot of work to do for setting a joint plan to move on the Arab and international arenas.
President al-Assad stressed that “Syria and Tunisia stand together against the obscurantist ideology, as they share an issue of intellect, consciousness and belonging, which is targeted by the outside,” asserting that the Arabs are the sons of one nation and are connected to one belonging, which the other peoples lack.
During the meeting, the Tunisian President said “You are our brothers, and what hurts you hurts us, Syria is our country and there were many Tunisians who resorted to Syria during the period of the French colonial,” asserting that Syria’s relations with the countries of the Maghreb has always been excellent.
President Said expressed his country’s great satisfactions towards what Syria had achieved in its war against terrorism and preventing the foreign intervention, saying “the goal was to divide Syria into entities, but the Syrian people had never accepted the interference in their affairs and showed that they are sovereign when it comes to making their decisions.”
In a statement to Tunisian El Watania TV. Channel, President al-Assad said “although of all the circumstances Tunisia has witnessed, the states of genuine popular orientation towards the crisis in Syria have been demonstrated… Jeddah Summit is very important to enhance the Arab joint action.”
President al-Assad added that during the war, the main point was to distinguish between the official and popular stances towards the war in Syria. In fact, we were in Tunisia despite of all the circumstances, Tunisia has experienced during the past decade and a half, states of genuine popular orientation have been appeared, now, following my meeting with His Excellency President Kais bin Said, I say that I have made sure of this, although it is certain, but further confirmation is always needed”.
The Arab people in general have not changed, while Tunisia in particular has great importance because it was used as one of the platforms or to manifest it as one of the conspiring platforms, not only against Syria, but also against the Arab intellect and Arab belonging, the President went on to say.
Hala Zain
