Barbara Walters chats with Forward Syria
Swaying between art and seduction
Discussing monetary policy with the man in charge
Where the earth screams in horror
02/13/2011 - Issue 0
A new Syrian-US track II effort to take place ‘soon’
A new Syrian-US track II effort to improve bilateral ties between Washington and Damascus is due to take off soon. The call for a constructive low-profile dialogue started when former President Jimmy Carter visited Syria twice in 2010, inviting a handful of politicians, businessmen, academics, and media figures to visit the Carter Center in Atlanta. The talks will now start towards the second quarter of 2011.
The trip which was supposed to take place in early February, after originally planned for October 2010, confirmed a source close to the delegation. However, the Syrian side asked to reschedule the talks to the second quarter of 2011. "Contrary to what was reported in An-Nahar and other Arab media, the trip wasn't planned to appease the US and seek their protection amid turmoil in the region," the source added. "In fact, the talks were planned long before the popular revolts in the Arab world,” he confirmed. "They had a packed agenda of topics of mutual concern that ranged from bilateral relations and US sanctions on Syria, to the peace process, Iraq, WMDs, and joint efforts on counter-terrorism." President Carter was planned to open the Track II talks hosted by the Carter Center. His former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski will chair the talks from the American side, along with Syrian counterpart Adnan Omran, a former Information Minister who served as Syria's ambassador to London 25 years ago.
The Syrian delegation includes 8 leading Syrian figures, in addition to Omran. It includes chairman of the Damascus Securities Exchange Rateb Shallah, chairman of Syrian Red Crescent Abdul Rahman Attar, former ministers of Higher Education Hani Mourtada, Telecom Bashir Munajjed, and Transport Makram Obeid, Director of Syrian TV Reem Haddad, technology and media entrepreneur Abdulsalam Haykal, and Sami Moubayed, university professor and chief-editor of Forward. The program included also meetings with prominent US figures including Sam Lewis, former American ambassador to Israel, Tom Dine of the Search for Common Ground, along with journalists like David Ignatius and Helen Cobban. The program extends to Washington, D.C., where the delegation would meet chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee John Kerry. The source confirmed that the program doesn't include meetings with President Barak Obama or his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
