Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini briefed U.S Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday in a telephone conversation over his recent trip to Lebanon and Syria, Xinhua reported referring to the Italian Foreign Ministry.
The phone conversation "provided an opportunity for an in-depth exchange of views on a number of specific issues in the Midest region, with particular reference to the process of stabilization in Lebanon in view of the upcoming parliamentary elections there on June 7," it said.
As for Syria, Frattini and Clinton agreed that the prospects in the region need "still to be verified, of involving Damascus in the regional peace processes."
Clinton thanked Frattini for his briefing and told him she would pass it on to U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East affairs George Mitchell who is on a Mideast trip, the ministry said.