President Bashar al-Assad received on Sunday a written letter of thanks from French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Syria's role in releasing Clotilde Reiss.
The letter also dealt with the bilateral relations between Syria and France, and the importance of building on what has been achieved during the last period and investing these good relations to contribute in stabilizing the region, SANA reported.
The letter was conveyed by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner during a meeting with President al-Assad.
The meeting also tackled the Iranian nuclear issue. President al-Assad stressed the importance of the agreement signed between Turkey, Brazil and Iran, adding that this agreement proves that only the accurate approach leads to positive consequences.
In this regard, President al-Assad stressed it is important that the countries concerned change their approach towards the Iranian peaceful nuclear program, given that this agreement is a precious opportunity to reach a diplomatic solution and spare the region and the world catastrophic confrontations.
On the resistance and the recurrent Israeli threats to ignite wars and destabilize the region, President al-Assad said the West has to realize that the region has changed, and the previously-used language, policies and approaches towards the region are no longer acceptable.
''It is also no longer acceptable to keep silent over Israel's violations and its sowing the seeds of sedition in the region...If the West wants security and stability in our region, it must start playing an active role to rein in Israel and curb its extremist and dangerous tendencies on the region's security and stability.''
For his part, Minister Kouchner expressed France's permanent desire to play an active role to defuse tension in the region and establish security and stability and resolve all the issues through dialogue.
The meeting was attended by Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, Presidential Political and Media Advisor Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban, Assistant Foreign Minister Abdul Fattah Ammoura, the Director of Europe's Department at the Foreign Ministry, the French Ambassador in Damascus and the delegation accompanying Kouchner.
Presidents al-Assad and Sarkozy held talks in Paris last November on promoting bilateral relations between the two countries and regional and international issues.
President al-Assad also discussed with French Prime Minister Francois Fillon last February in Damascus bilateral cooperation in the political, economic and cultural fields.
During Fillon's visit, both countries signed 11 agreements, documents and memos of understanding in various areas of cooperation.