Damascus, (SANA)- President Bashar al-Assad stressed that France has a special status in the Arab world and we in Syria are content over the efforts exerted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to strengthen the relations between France and the Arab world on the basis of mutual respect, joint interests and constant, continuous dialogue.

President al-Assad told reporters in a joint press conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy Wednesday evening that "France is an important country in Europe, and is now heading the European Union….we have always called for a European active role in the Middle East, and we feel happy over the return of this role through the new Dynamic of French policy."

The President added that "my talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy were frank and constructive…we talked about many raise issues, especially in the Middle East…The main point of our talks today was the stability in the Middle East, and subsequently the peace process and the indirect talks underway between Syria and Israel in Turkey."

His Excellency went on to say that "we have made an assessment of the stage to which the negotiations have reached and the future horizons of this process and the French role which we talked about during my visit to Paris two months ago."

President al-Assad said "we also talked about the issue of the Iranian file and other topics which we'll speak about later."

President al-Assad said that "Syria's stance over the Iranian file issue is based on its previously announce stance…this issue had been raised several years ago…Syria had already submitted a draft resolution to the UN Security Council on freeing the Middle East from weapons of mass destruction….but voting on it was blocked and ever since it has been shelved at the UN Security Council."

His Excellency added that "when we went to Iran in the last visit and talked about and discussed this issue in details with the Iranian officials we didn't hear and stance different from the Syrian stance which I have just talked about….but it's obvious there is no confidence between Iran and the countries concerned regarding this file."

President al-Assad said the main focus of our talks today was the stability and security in the Middle East…we cannot talk about stability without talking about peace.

He added that talks also touched upon the bilateral relations between Syria and France which made great progress after his Excellency's latest visit to Paris, adding that President Sarkozy is accompanied by an economic delegation which will meet their Syrian counterparts and with the Syrian officials to sign Memos of Understandings tomorrow.

He stressed that his latest visit to Paris and talks President Sarkozy in Damascus today have boosted up the bilateral relations and created an atmosphere of confidence between Syria and France and also laid the foundations for a friendship relationship that existed but regained its brilliance today.

He added that "we will continue the dialogue in this field with the Iranian and French sides…we hope to reach a conclusion as the solution to this issue can only be reached by dialogue and peaceful means…nobody in the world can bear the consequences of any other solution as this will be a catastrophe."

On the four-way summit tomorrow and whether a new regional axis will emerge, President al-Assad said that "I don't think that both of us with the policy of axis…this is not our aim…there are more important issues like stability and peace…I think it's natural to meet and we wish if there are other countries."

Answering a question on the start of direct negotiations and their conditions with Israel, President al-Assad said "let's make a comparison with constructing a building…we cannot build unless there are strong pillars…we are now in the stage of putting up these pillars, this means first of all building the confidence among the peace process parties, and then the basis and terms of references…. And after that we can move on to the direct negotiations, but this stage needs the U.S. with the other parties which sponsor the peace process…and then we can say they are the U.S., France and Turkey  ."

He added that "in this stage we asked President Sarkozy to support the indirect negotiations as they are the only way to the direct negotiations."

For his part, President Sarkozy said in the joint press conference that "we are building our relations with President Bashar al-Assad step by step…and we want to be relations of confidence."

President Sarkozy expressed pleasure over carrying out all the decisions announced by President al-Assad in Paris, stressing France support to the indirect peace negotiations under Turkish mediation.

President Sarkozy pointed out to his country's readiness to be one of the sponsors of this process when it is time to do so.

The French President added that "we also talked about economic files and the important topics which allow us to upgrade the economic relations to the level of the political ties as it is today….our discussion was very frank."

President Sarkozy said that President al-Assad knows how far the French opinion is keen on Lebanon's independence and stability. "We hope that this positive development between Syria and Lebanon would continue and develop in the future."

He stressed that France fully supports the indirect negotiations between Syria and Israel under Turkish mediation, pointing out that "the political situations in Israel didn't allow the holding of the fourth round of these negotiations, but it’s very important that the day will be soon where there will be direct discussions between Syria and Israel to establish the peace…and that's very important for everybody."

The French President said Syria "can play a role ion the Iranian issues or the Iranian file", reiterating France position that Iran should not get the nuclear weapons, but it has a right as all countries in the world to have the civilian nuclear energy.

Ahmad Fathi ZAHRA