Moallem: Syria Will Appoint Ambassador to Lebanon Soon

 
Source: Al-Manar TV, 17-3-2009

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said Monday a conflict in schedule was behind the notable absence of an official delegation at the inauguration of the first Lebanese embassy in Damascus. "It was not intentional," Moallem emphasized.

Speaking at a joint press conference with visiting Arab League Chief Amr Moussa, Moallem declared that Syria would appoint an ambassador to Lebanon soon. "We have raised the Syrian flag over our mission in Lebanon and very soon we will name an ambassador for Lebanon," he pointed out.

Earlier Monday, charge d'affaires Rami Murtada raised the Lebanese flag over the building located in the Damascus residential neighborhood of Abu Rummaneh, which is also home to the US Embassy.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh said that the opening of the embassies will help "organize and legalize bilateral relations and become a guarantee for Lebanese citizens in Syria and Syrian citizens in Lebanon." For his part, the head of the Future movement MP Saad Hariri welcomed the opening of the embassy as a "symbolic" act. "We have given our blood for these relations to be established," the MP said.

Lebanon and Syria reached agreement in October on establishing diplomatic ties, for the first time since gaining independence from France more than 60 years ago.

Lebanon has named career diplomat Michel Khoury as its first ambassador. Khoury is Beirut's current envoy to Cyprus. Syria has yet to name an envoy to Lebanon, where it opened an embassy in December that is not yet fully operational although it has been staffed with three diplomats.