President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday received President of the Crimean Republic Sergei Aksyonov, who is visiting Syria presiding over a high-level delegation.

President al-Assad began the meeting by congratulating the Crimean people and leadership over fulfilling their own will of returning to the homeland of the Russian Federation.

President al-Assad stressed that this visit constitutes a good start for building ties of cooperation between the two sides in various fields, particularly that the two countries enjoy a distinct  position on the Black and Mediterranean seas.

For his part, Aksyonov expressed pleasure over visiting Syria and working on boosting relations between the two sides in a way that serves interests of the peoples of Syria and Crimea, who have struggled for defending their homelands and their independent will.

The meeting also reviewed the steps, whose prompt implementation was agreed on  in order to be the basis for building strong relations between the two sides including establishing a joint trading house and a joint sea transportation company, exchanging  goods and products produced and manufactured by the two sides, launching  direct flights between the two countries and exchanging visits between businessmen as well as setting up plans for culture exchange that establish a long-term relation between the two peoples.

The meeting was attended by Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade Samer al-Khalil, Secretary General of the chairmanship of the Cabinet Qais Mohammad Khedr , Assistant Foreign and Expatriates Minister Ayman Sousan  and Russia’s Ambassador in Damascus.