DAMASCUS – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad received on Sunday thenewly-appointed Pakistani Ambassador Rashed Kamal and accepted hiscredentials.
The Syrian president exchanged talks with the ambassador and wished himsuccess in his missions.
Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign and Expatriates Minister Walid al-Moallemand Minister of Presidential Affairs Mansour Azzam attended the ceremony ofaccepting the credentials.
The ambassador was received and seen off at al-Shaab Palace in the usualceremonies.
The two Islamic nations share the historic, international, and bilateralrelations. Through the ancient civilization exchange, areas of modernPakistan were part of the silk route with the Syria and for centuries,Syrian Islamic missionaries that introduced Islam in the parts of nowintegrated in Pakistan after 711 AD were from Syria.
Along with Russia and Iran, Pakistan has raised its voice for the supportfor President Bashar al-Assad, and greatly exhorted for peaceful solutionof Syrian crises as well as opposing any military actions against Syria,but recently has reduced their supports for Bashar al-Assad in favor forTurkish military intervention against al-Assad’s regime, as Pakistan andTurkey are close allies as well, while Turkey has traditionally hostile toAssad’s Government.
After the Syrian military’s alleged use of chemical weapons in 2013,Pakistan strongly opposed a potential US-led military intervention in Syriato remove Assad. The Pakistani government argued that Assad’s fall wouldmake Syria a terminal failed state.
Pakistan’s emphasis on maintaining the status quo in Syria has strengthenedits relationships with Russia and China, the leaders of the pro-Assad blocin the United Nations (UN).
Pakistan has also criticized international sanctions against the Syriangovernment. The Syrian economy’s collapse has disrupted trade links betweenDamascus and Islamabad. Before the Syrian civil war’s outbreak, Pakistanregularly sold large quantities of wheat and cotton to Syria in exchangefor subsidized Syrian crude oil.
Pakistan hopes to revive these economic deals by ensuring that a negotiatedsolution to end the Syrian conflict is implemented on Assad’s terms.