West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher, currently visiting the Middle East, met with Syrian President Hafez Assad and Foreign Minister Khaddam in Damascus. They reportedly discussed the Middle East conflict, Arab-European relations and bilateral matters. German sources said today that Khaddam and Genscher had reached “wide agreement in their assessment of the objective possibilities of a Mideast peace.”
In interviews with Syrian and Kuwaiti newspapers, Genscher praised the “constructive attitude” of Assad. He said “Syria’s role in what has already been achieved and in future progress cannot be over-estimated.” Genscher will be in Damascus today and tomorrow and will spend Friday and Saturday in Jordan before going to Egypt.
In addition to his meeting with Hafez, he is expected to meet with King Hussein of Jordan and President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and with the foreign ministers of those countries. Genscher’s visit to Syria is the first by a West German Foreign Minister since Syria broke diplomatic relations 10 years ago because of German arms deliveries to Israel. Relations were restored between the two countries in August, 1974.
The Syrian Foreign Minister was in West Germany in May, 1975. Since 1974 Syria has received $72 million in German capital aid (loans at cheap interest) and technical help worth $12 million. Trade has also risen rapidly. Germany has since 1973 been Syria’s largest source of imports. German exports to Syria were $24 million in 1975 and in the first nine months of last year were $26 million.
HOPES TO REDUCE MISTRUST
Genscher told a Jordanian news agency today that he hoped that the experience gained from his present trip to the three Arab countries and his visit to Israel in March would “help reduce mistrust” in the region. He said he would use his meetings with Arab leaders to discuss chances for a Mideast peace settlement.
Genscher claimed that the prospects for progress in solving the Arab-Israeli conflict are better than ever before although the obstacles are still “large.” He said he had “particularly high expectations” for his visit to Jordan, which, he said, “plays an extremely important role in this regard.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
