Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for British foreign policy of the decision of President Bashir of Sudan decision to meet with President Bashar al-Assad.

The UK's position on Syria is unchanged: we believe the Asad regime lost all legitimacy due to its atrocities against the Syrian people. We have no plans to re-establish ties with the regime or reopen our embassy in Damascus absent a negotiated political settlement. We have expressed our disappointment to the Government of Sudan at the visit of President Bashir to Damascus. I conveyed that disappointment to Acting Sudanese Foreign Minister Al-Dirdiri on 19 December.