Paris, (SANA) President Bashar al-Assad and French President Nicolas Sarkozy ended summit talks at the Elysee palace in Paris Saturday evening by discussing a wide range of bilateral, regional and international issues of common interest for Syria and France, a joint press statement said. It added that in light of positive regional developments, the two Presidents agreed on a work plan to secure the re-launch of the bilateral relations which aim at enhancing the political, economic and cultural relations between the two countries, particularly in the educational, academic and language fields. The statement said that as part of these developments, the French President will answer an invitation from President al-Assad to visit Syria in the first half of September 2008. The preparations for this visit will be discussed during a visit by Syria Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah al-Dardari to Paris on July 21-22 and a visit by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner to Damascus. The press statement pointed out that the two Presidents underlined importance of the Syrian-Israeli track of the peace process, and recognized the progress achieved in the framework of the indirect talks between Syria and Israel under Turkish mediation. President al-Assad expressed the hope that France and the U.S. will be able to fully take part in a future peace agreement between Syria and Israel during all of the direct talks stage and to implement the peace agreement, including the future security arrangements which could be necessary. The French President stressed his country's readiness to respond to this role in case the two parties showed interest in this regard. The two Presidents renewed total support to Doha Agreement. President Sarkozy praised the strong determination of President al-Assad for establishing diplomatic relations with Lebanon after the formation of the Lebanese national unity government. The French President, in his capacity as President of the European Council, is committed to take all suitable procedures to sign the partnership agreement between the European Union and Syria and launch the process of approving it as soon as possible. The two sides pledged to actively cooperate for securing the success of the Union for the Mediterranean. Ahmad Fathi ZAHRA