DAMASCUS (Dispatches) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Monday that his government maintains flexibility in dealing with the political process to the country’s prolonged foreign-backed war, state news agency SANA reported.
Assad made the remarks in his meeting with the visiting Russian delegation in Damascus, which includes Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov.
Assad stressed that Syria is maintaining flexibility on the political track in tandem with working on countering terrorism to achieve security and stability in the country.
The two sides also discussed the signed economic agreements and ways to reach new deals in order to ease the negative repercussion of the Western sanctions on Syria.
President Assad said he is keen to expand economic and business deals with Moscow, his closest ally, to help Syria weather economic sanctions.
He said he wanted to see Russian investments in key areas of the economy that had been agreed in the past succeed.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in the capital Damascus on Monday, marking his first visit to the country since 2012. The Russian delegations are headed by Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov.
Russia has emerged as a key international ally to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government.
With the help of the Russia and Iran, the Syrian government has retrieved key areas across the country.