DAMASK. May 11 (Interfax) - President Dmitry Medvedev plans to discuss bilateral economic and humanitarian ties, and trade while visiting Syria.
"Although trade has shrunk in conditions of global crisis, we hope to improve the situation," Medvedev said before Russian-Syrian summit talks in a narrow format in Damask on Tuesday.
Medvedev also said that he would discuss foreign-policy issues and Middle East settlement while in Syria. "We have always been and will continue to be advocates of this," he said.
The Russian president thanked Syrian President Bashar al-Asad for the words spoken in support of the Russian position in the fight against terrorism. "The fight against terrorism is a common problem and we are ready to combat this global evil together," he said.
"Relations between our peoples date back to many years and even decades," he went on to say. "They have always been relations of friends and partners. This was so at the beginning, when Syria gained independence, and this is going to be that way always," he said.
"Friendship will be maintained in the future, as previously, Medvedev said. "We have quite a few good and glorious chapters in our history, for instance, assistance in construction projects and in training personnel back in the Soviet-era, and we see these relations as our common asset," Medvedev said.
"The Syrian president and I belong to the same generation and we will lay a foundation for further progress in Russian-Syrian relations," the Russian leader said.