French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Wednesday he would go to Syria on September 3, the latest step in the two states' bid to normalise ties cut after the 2005 murder of Lebanon's ex-premier Rafiq Hariri.
  
Sarkozy's predecessor Jacques Chirac severed ties with Syria in response to the assassination, after accusing Damascus of involvement in the murder. Syria has denied the claims.
  
Washington continues to blacklist Damascus as a state sponsor of terrorism but France has moved to bring Syrian President Bashar al-Assad out of the diplomatic cold.
  
Sarkozy made the announcement during a speech to France's ambassadors gathered in Paris for their annual meeting on the country's foreign policy.
  
He said he rejected the idea of isolating Syria, preferring to take "another route, more risky it is true, but more promising: open dialogue leading to tangible progress."
  
Making a diplomatic comeback after years of ostracism, Syrian President Bashar Assad was among more than 40 leaders who on July 13 in Paris inaugurated the new Mediterranean union, Sarkozy's flagship project to bolster cooperation between Europe, the Middle East and north Africa.
  
France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was in Damascus on Monday where he offered help to Syria and Lebanon on thorny issues linked to their resolve to normalise ties for the first time since the French mandate over the two countries ended 60 years ago.
  
Kouchner's visit came a day after Syria's official media said Assad had appointed Lamia Shakkour as ambassador to France filling a post vacant for 18 months.
  
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