Italy has signalled its willingness to act as a bridge-builder between Syria and the European Union after the fall of long-term ruler Bashar al-Assad.
“Italy is ready to play its part in promoting the reform process in Syria,” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Friday after a meeting with Syrian de-facto ruler Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus.
Tajani also met his Syrian counterpart Asaad al-Shaybani, and assured him that he would closely follow the “process of pacification and reconstruction of the country.”
The aim is to promote a political process that guarantees the fundamental rights of all Syrians and recognizes the role of Christians as citizens with full rights, he said.
Tajani is the third EU foreign minister to pay an official visit to Syria’s new rulers after the coup at the beginning of December, following Germany’s Annalena Baerbock and French top diplomat Jean-Noël Barrot, who travelled there about a week ago.
