BEIRUT (AP) -- Syria's foreign minister said Monday his country was determined to establish diplomatic relations with Lebanon for the first time since the two neighbors gained independence from France more than 60 years ago.

Walid al-Moallem made the announcement after talks in Beirut with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman. It was the first official visit to Lebanon by a top Syrian figure in at least three years.
Relations between the two Arab nations have been lopsided since the 1970s, when Syria sent its army into Lebanon and retained control there for nearly 30 years. But ties unraveled when former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was killed in a 2005 car bombing.
After Hariri's assassination, Syria withdrew its troops from Lebanon after nearly three decades.
Al-Moallem's visit to Lebanon came amid calls on Damascus to establish diplomatic relations and demarcate its border with Lebanon — moves that would put the two neighbors on equal footing for the first time.
The majority coalition in Lebanon's parliament has pushed for such action to guarantee Syria's recognition of Lebanon as a sovereign nation. The Western-backed bloc blames Syria for Hariri's death. Syria denies involvement in any of the killings, including Hariri's.
“We are determined to open an embassy and exchange diplomatic representation. But this determination should be shared by the two countries,” al-Moallem told reporters after meeting Suleiman at his office in suburban Beirut.
Al-Moallem also handed Suleiman an invitation from Syrian President Bashar Assad to visit Damascus. The two presidents planned for al-Moallem's visit when they met in Paris earlier this month on the sidelines of a Mediterranean summit.
Syria and Lebanon have not had full-fledged embassies in each other's capitals since Lebanon became independent in 1943 and Syria in 1945.
Assad has said that establishing diplomatic ties with Lebanon would be possible if a national unity government was formed in Beirut, bringing together the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority and the opposition led by Hezbollah.
After weeks of haggling, a unity government was formed on July 11, in line with an Arab-brokered agreement reached in May that ended an 18-month political stalemate that nearly plunged the country into civil war.
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