LONDON - Lebanon's new Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said in an interview with a British newspaper published on Thursday that he hoped rebuild relations with Syria during a forthcoming trip to Damascus.

The 62-year-old former finance minister, who was a close ally of his murdered predecessor Rafiq Hariri, is due to travel to the Syrian capital after the expected confirmation of his government by parliament that will likely take place Thursday, the Financial Times said.

Siniora told the newspaper that he would not wait until the results of a UN probe into the February assassination of Hariri before restoring ties with Syria. Damascus' alleged role in the killing is being investigated.

"I want to come back (from the trip) with a new way of dealing between Lebanon and Syria, a new thinking, that we should co-operate and create an attitude of openness between the two countries," he said.

"The attitude has to be based on mutual interest and respect."

The murder of Hariri prompted Damascus to remove its troops and intelligence services from Lebanon in April.

According to extracts published by the Lebanese press this week, the programme of the first government formed since Syria's troop pullout expresses commitment to the "establishment of healthy... privileged and solid relations with Syria."

Relations between the two neighbours have been strained since the pullout with Lebanese trucks being blocked at the border in a major blow to trade, and large numbers of Syrian workers following the troops out for fear of reprisal, depriving their country of desperately needed remittances.

Copyright © 1999-2005 Lenanonwire^®.com. All rights reserved.