Old foes Egypt and Syria have renewed diplomatic ties after a 12-year break in a step that holds advantages for both major Arab powers.
A joint communique announcing resumption of relations was issued in Damascus after a two-hour meeting between Syrian President Hafez al-Assad and Egyptian Prime Minister Atef Sedki.Political analysts saw it as a pragmatic step on the part of both states and as a vindication of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's policy of mending fences with the Arab world without jeopardizing Cairo's 1979 peace treaty with Israel.
"It is a pragmatic step on everybody's part," said Egyptian political commentator Tahseen Bashir.
Mubarak and Assad are expected to hold a summit meeting shortly, but officials said no date had been set.
Relations between the two states have long been stormy.
The high point was the February 1958 union, bringing Egypt and Syria together in the United Arab Republic under the leadership of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser.
But the United Arab Republic broke up in September 1961 and Assad, angered by the late President Anwar Sadat's overtures to Israel, finally severed ties in December 1977.
A staunch opponent of any compromise with Israel, Assad actively encouraged other Arab states to boycott Cairo when Sadat signed the peace pact with the Jewish state in 1979.
Mubarak, who took over as president in 1981 when Sadat was killed by religious zealots, has striven to restore Arab ties without jeopardizing the peace treaty.