Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem on Thursday described talks held today between Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen and President Bashar al-Assad as constructive, saying "the talks dealt with the situation in the Middle East, particularly the Palestinian lands."

"President Bashar al-Assad spoke about the responsibility of the international community in lifting the human ordeal off the Palestinians, particularly lifting the siege and opening crossing points," Al-Moallem added during a press conference with his Dutch counterpart.

He noted that discussions tackled the current situation of the peace process particularly after Annapolis meeting, saying "both sides underlined the need to find suitable conditions to push the peace process on all tracks and implement Security Council resolutions and the Land-for-Peace formula."

"Talks also covered the situation in Iraq and procedures taken by Syria to control its borders with Iraq as well as the security cooperation with the Iraqi government," Minister al-Moallem added.

He said the two sides underlined their support to the Arab initiative to solve the political crisis in Lebanon, and to the efforts of Arab League Secretary General aiming at reaching an immediate solution through dialogue among the Lebanese.

"Talks also referred to bilateral relations between Syria and Holland, particularly cooperation in the fields of irrigation and scholarships for Syrian students in Holland," the Minister added.

He expressed hope that dialogue between Syria and Holland will bridge the gap in viewpoints between the two sides.

For his part, the Dutch Minister stressed the important role played by Syria to achieve peace in the region, saying "this role is constructive and essential to realize peace in the region."

"Any peace accord in the region should include the restoration of the occupied Golan to Syria and Israel's withdrawal to the line of June 4th, 1967," Minister Verhagen said.