SHARM EL SHEIK, EGYPT — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Thursday with Syria's foreign minister at a summit here, the first formal encounter between the two countries' top diplomats in more than three years.
American officials suggested that more meetings with Syria could follow, an indication that the Bush administration may be changing its policy of isolating a regime it considers a sponsor of terrorism.
However, Rice did not meet with Iran's foreign minister, who also was here for the international conference on Iraq.
"We haven't planned, and have not asked for, a bilateral meeting, nor have they asked us," Rice said, referring to the Iranians. She described the meeting with her Syrian counterpart, Walid Moallem, as professional and businesslike.
The meeting came about a month after Bush administration officials criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) for traveling to Syria and meeting with President Bashar Assad.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, who is traveling with Rice, said Rice had called Pelosi to discuss the conference and the speaker's trip to Damascus. He added that Rice defended the Bush administration's criticisms of Pelosi. He argued that there was a difference between Pelosi talking to Assad about a broad range of issues and Rice meeting with her Syrian counterpart to say "your actions need to follow your words."
Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Burlingame), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who was part of the bipartisan delegation that accompanied Pelosi, said Rice's meeting Thursday undermined the Bush administration's criticism of the speaker.
"This is a marked improvement to the administration's ostrich policy approach and a tacit admission of how wrong it was last month in criticizing the speaker of the House and congressional colleagues, including myself, for going to Damascus," Lantos said in a statement.
Relations between the United States and Syria have been tense for years. U.S. officials have accused Syria of allowing foreign fighters to enter Iraq through its territory and have suggested Syrian involvement in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri of Lebanon. Officials in Damascus have denied both charges.
The administration also has accused Syria of backing Lebanon's Hezbollah movement and Hamas in the Palestinian territories, both of which the U.S. State Department lists as terrorist organizations.
