Ahmed al-Sharaa is expected in the US capital in early November, Syria’s top diplomat Asaad al-Shaibani told a panel at the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain.
“This visit is certainly historic,” he said.
“Many topics will be discussed, starting with the lifting of sanctions,” Shaibani said, adding: “Today we are fighting (the Islamic State)… any effort in this regard requires international support.”
Discussions will also revolve around reconstruction after more than a decade of war, he said.
The foreign ministry in Damascus confirmed the trip would be the first-ever visit to the White House by a Syrian president.
On Saturday, US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said Sharaa was heading to Washington “hopefully” to sign an agreement to join the international US-led alliance against the Islamic State (IS).
Although it will be Sharaa’s first visit to Washington, it will be his second to the US, after a landmark UN trip in September, where the former jihadist became the first Syrian president in decades to address the UN General Assembly in New York.
In May, the interim leader, whose Islamist forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, met Trump for the first time in Riyadh during a historic visit that led to the US leader vowing to lift economic sanctions on Syria.
Source: CNA
