DAMASCUS: Syria's president told a visiting US senator yesterday his country wants to develop relations with the United States after several years of tensions.

Bashar Assad's talks with Senator Benjamin Cardin, a Maryland Democrat, focused on developing bilateral relations "through serious and positive dialogue based on mutual respect and joint interest in finding just solutions to the region's problems," Syria's official news agency reported.

His visit comes after President Barack Obama offered to engage countries that had been at odds with the US. He is to be followed by two more congressional delegations to Damascus this week, including one headed by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry.