Syrian Foreign Minister Asad al-Shaibani confirmed on Sunday that President Ahmed al-Sharaa will visit the White House in early November and discuss the reconstruction of Syria. U.S. Special Envoy Tom Barrack said the previous day that Sharaa would visit Washington, with a White House official later saying the visit would happen around November 10.
“There will be many issues on the table, starting with the lifting of sanctions and opening of a new chapter between the United States and Syria. We want to establish a very strong partnership between the two countries,” Shibani added.
According to the U.S. State Department, no previous Syrian president has paid an official visit to Washington. Sharaa addressed the U.N. General Assembly in New York in September.
Since seizing power from Bashar al-Assad last December, Sharaa has made a series of foreign trips as his transitional government seeks to re-establish Syria’s ties with world powers that had shunned Damascus during Assad’s rule.
-Alexander Cornwell
