Meeting With Syrian "Professional," Focused On Iraq Security

Thursday, May 3rd 2007, 7:39 am

By: News On 6

SHARM El-SHEIK, Egypt (AP) _ Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said her meeting with the Syrian foreign minister, the first high-level talks in years between the United States and Syria, was ``professional'' and focused on how to improve security in Iraq.

Rice met with Walid Moallem for a half-hour on the sidelines of a two-day conference about Iraq's future, taking the opportunity to air U.S. concerns about Syria's notoriously porous border with its neighbor.

``I didn't lecture him and he didn't lecture me,'' Rice said afterward. ``I would say it was professional. It was businesslike.''

Rice said she was not seeking a similar meeting with Iran's foreign minister.