Assad believes West's arrogance makes dialogue impossible

CAIRO – 11 June 2018: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said at a meeting with Russian lawmakers that the West's arrogance makes dialogue impossible, State Duma (lower house of parliament) member Dmitry Sablin, who heads the Russian delegation, told reporters on the phone, TASS reported on Sunday.

Assad pointed out that he had lived in the West for two years when he was young, worked at a hospital and could see what life was like there. "We try to build dialogue and understand others. For them, their customs are the right ones, while all others are wrong. The West is arrogant and has a narrow view of the world, and such approach makes dialogue impossible," Sablin said citing Assad.

According to the Russian lawmaker, the Syrian president called for boosting political and cultural ties with Russia. "We don’t have enough information about each other’s countries. We need dialogue, particularly between young people," Assad said, as cited by Sablin.

The Syrian president also pointed out that for the previous 20 years, many young Syrians had remained under the Western influence and often times knew about the United States more than they knew about their own country.