Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan meets Syrian President al-Assad

ANKARA (A.A) - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with recent global and regional developments high on their agenda. 
The two-hour meeting took place in the Syrian city of Aleppo following a ground-breaking ceremony for the Friendship Dam to be built jointly by Turkey and Syria on the River Asi.  
Besides Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Syrian Prime Minister Naji al-Utri and Foreign Minister Walid Mualem were also in attendance at the meeting. 
Prime Minister Erdogan and President al-Assad said in a joint statement released after the meeting that they agreed to make more efforts to prevent new sufferings in the region. 
"We hope that security and stability would be ensured in Egypt in the shortest time possible. Egyptian people's demands and expectations should be met," they said. 
Referring to recent developments in Lebanon, the leaders said that they would do their utmost to help Lebanon reach security, stability and prosperity soon.  
The leaders also highlighted importance of high-level and transparent dialogue between Turkey and Syria in efforts to find solutions to the regional problems. 
"Our economic cooperation will consolidate friendly relations between Turkish and Syrian peoples. It will also contribute to stability and security of the other regional peoples," they added. 
Earlier on Sunday, Prime Minister Erdogan and his Syrian counterpart al-Utri attended the ground-breaking ceremony for the Friendship Dam to be built jointly by Turkey and Syria on the River Asi.