Dialogue between the United States and Syria is very important and is in the best interest of peace and stability of the region, Syrian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Bothaina Shaban said.

In a further climb down from hectic US rhetoric against Syria over the past two weeks, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday that he intends to visit Damascus to convey US concerns to Syrian leaders.

"I would expect to travel to Syria to have very candid and straight forward discussions with my foreign minister colleague (Faruk al-Shareh) and with President Bashar Assad," Powell said in an interview with US media, without giving a specific date about his travel.

But he insisted that Syria expel officials of President Saddam Hussein's government who may flee to Syria and find refuge there. Shaban denied that Syria will allow any man of the Saddam regime to flee to Syria, saying borders with Iraq are closed.

Syria will never allow any member of former Iraqi regime to enter the country and cooperate in anything that would serve the interest of the Iraqi people, she added.

Earlier on Thursday, Syrian Foreign Minister Shareh, who is in Egypt for a visit, told a press conference in Cairo that he has no information about Powell's statement on visit to Syria.

He, however, noted that showing good intentions, Syria welcomes this visit out of its belief that holding dialogue between the two countries is very important and is in the best interest of peace and stability in the Middle East.

The United States has warned Syria not to give safe haven to any senior officials linked to neighboring Iraq's Saddam, accusing it of sending military equipment and allowing fighters to cross into Iraq to fight US-led troops.

Syria has flatly denied these charges as well as the renewed accusation that it may be developing chemical weapons.

(Xinhua News Agency April 17, 2003)