Syrian President Bashar Assad opened a conference of the ruling Baath Party yesterday by urging its members to make reform of the economy and fighting corruption their priorities.
"The economic situation and improving living standards represent a priority for us," Assad told the gathering.
"Corruption is a social and moral problem," he added.
Speaking to some 1,150 delegates elected by the party's 2 million members, Assad said the Baath had to evaluate its performance during the past few years.
The conference "should push the reform process forward to respond to the majority of people," Assad said.
The 10th Baath Party congress convened while Syria is under increasing international scrutiny. Syrian officials have denied they would be influenced by such pressure.
Minister of Emigrants Affairs Buthaina Shaaban, who is also spokeswoman for the conference, said any new initiatives would stem from "our responsibility toward our country and people."
The Syria Times said yesterday the conference had raised expectations of new initiatives to "address economic problems, to untangle the knot of bureaucratic regulations that effectively strangles business and to introduce far-reaching democratic and political reforms."
"Recent events have showed how much it is pertinent and necessary to review old practices and to draw a vision for the future," the state-run paper said in an editorial.
Last week Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa forecast the congress would "give a new boost to the reform and modernization process."
The last congress of the Arab Socialist Baath Party, as it is officially known, was held in 2000 when it unanimously elected Assad as secretary-general following the death of his father, president Hafez Assad.
The congress comes at a crucial time for Syria. The country, already under US sanctions for its alleged role in fueling the Iraqi insurgency next door, is still reeling from its April withdrawal from Lebanon, ending a 29-year-military presence in its tiny neighbor.
Syria was forced to pull out its troops after the Feb. 14 assassination in Beirut of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, for which the Lebanese opposition blamed Damascus. Syria has denied the charge.
The Syrian leadership faces a long list of demands from the international community as well at home, where pro-democracy activists have become increasingly vocal in their demands for more freedoms.
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