Suleiman: Relations with Syria are on the right track

Source: NowLebanon, 04-12-2008
President Michel Suleiman said that the parliament had regained its "pioneering legislative role," a role, he said, that would be maintained by the 2009 parliamentary elections.
He said that the national dialogue was resumed so that county could have a defense strategy that protected it from all dangers, especially the terrorism that had, as of late, targeted the army.
During a meeting with the Lebanese community in Germany on Thursday, Suleiman said, "Most of you will participate in the elections."
Suleiman met on Wednesday with Arab ambassadors in Berlin and told them that Lebanon's value was not in its sectarian diversity but in the help it could provide in building consensus and Arab solidarity. Suleiman said that the Lebanese should use their good relations with Arab and other countries to achieve a common cause that was in Lebanon's interest.
"In addition, we want these states to deal with the Lebanese state; particularly, with the state's president and the one responsible for its relations with other states. This does not mean at all that states should not deal with their friends, whether they are members or groups at the domestic level; however, there is an appropriate manner for dealing with head of a state and an appropriate one for dealing with others," he said.
Suleiman said that relations with Syria were on the right track, and that his personal relationship with his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad was built on honesty. He added that the two had a mutual exchange of relations related to fighting terrorism.