Syria says priority is to work on its bilateral relations with Arab states

Syria’s return to the Arab League will be “almost impossible before correcting bilateral relations”, Mekdad told Algeria International TV.

He added that recent visits to Arab countries aim to open a new page.

Top diplomats from the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council countries have agreed that the Arab world must play a “leadership role” in efforts to find a political solution to the crisis in Syria so that its sovereignty is preserved and the return of Damascus to the Arab League facilitated.

The agreement was reached early on Saturday by the foreign ministers from the six GCC countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, plus Egypt, Iraq and Jordan, who met in Jeddah at the kingdom’s request to discuss Syria’s return to the fold after years of hostility with the government in Damascus.

The nine-nation talks came after Mekdad visited Jeddah on an unannounced trip on Wednesday, the first since the outbreak of the war, during which Mekdad and his Saudi counterpart discussed “the necessary steps” to return Damascus to the Arab League.

Syria’s membership in the Arab League was suspended following the eruption of a foreign-backed militancy in the country in 2011.