DAMASCUS -- Visiting Iranian Minister of Health and Medical Education Masoud Pezeshkian conferred on Sunday with his Syrian counterpart Muhammad Iyad ash-Shatti on expansion of medical and pharmaceutical cooperation between the two countries.

Highlighting Iran's capabilities for modernizing and equipping the new Syrian hospitals, Pezeshkian voiced Iran's readiness to share its experience in various medical fields with Syria and vowed to assist the country in training experts.

Iran and Syria, he pointed out, can broaden medical cooperation by exchanging experts, he pointed out.

Welcoming Iran's assistance in equipping syrian hospitals, the syrian minister voiced his country's willingness to cooperate in producing pharmaceutical drugs, artificial limbs and manufacturing ambulances for foreign and Arab markets, IRNA reported.

He also called for mutual cooperation in dealing with natural disasters.

Syria, he said, can benefit from Iran's experiences in various sectors such as technical know-how, information, production of vaccine and blood products as well as the repair and maintenance of medical equipment.

The Iranian minister and his delegation, who are to attend the conference on 'Challenges in General Health in the 21st Century' to be held from June 16-21 in Lebanon, arrived in Damascus on Friday night for a stop-over.