Berri Meets Assad

by **Admin** Tue Apr 08, 2008 12:27 am

Parliament
Speaker Nabih Berri on Monday launched an Arab tour by holding talks
with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus on the Lebanon crisis.

Syrian Vice President Farouq Sharaa and Foreign Minister Walid Muallem attended the Assad-Berri talks.
Press reports said Berri is to head to Egypt after his Damascus mission for talks with Egyptian and Arab League officials.

King
Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is to make a brief visit to Egypt on Tuesday
for talks with President Husni Mubarak on Arab divisions over Lebanon.

It
could not be determined if the two leaders would hold a joint meeting
with Berri, whose office said his tour would include Riyadh, Doha and
Paris.

Berri
would scout stands by Arab leaders on his plan to re-launch national
dialogue between the various Lebanese factions prior to a parliamentary
session designed to elect a president and scheduled for April 22.

News
reports said Berri is planning to launch a four-day dialogue as of
April 18, in an effort to work out consensus on the Arab initiative.