DAMASCUS, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Shara said on Monday that his country was ready to cooperate with all parties concerned in order to achieve stability and security in the Middle East, the official SANA news agency reported.

    Shara made the remarks during a meeting with visiting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in which they exchanged views on the intense atmosphere in the region, especially in Iraq,the Palestinian territories and Lebanon.

    Shara stressed in the meeting the role of Germany in realizing stability and security in the region, particularly during the period it takes the rotating presidency of the European Union next year, SANA said.

    Shara also criticized the "wrong policy" of some big powers, blaming the current regional impasse on those big powers' negligence over the fundamental problems in the region.

    Steinmeier arrived here earlier in the day for a brief visit on the last leg of his four-day Middle East tour, which had taken him to Amman, the West Bank, Gaza, Beirut, Cyprus, and Jerusalem.

    Steinmeier is the first senior German official to visit Syria in more than two years. He cancelled a planned trip at the last minute in August after President Bashar al-Assad made a speech blaming the United States for trouble in the region.

    On Sunday, Steinmeier said in Jerusalem that he would send a strong message to Syria to steer clear of Lebanon when meeting with its officials.

    "A trip like this only makes sense if one uses it to leave clear messages behind," Steinmeier told reporters at a brief news conference with his Israeli counterpart Tzipi Livni.

    "Lebanon must have a chance to develop based on its own domestic forces and that can only happen when outside interference is ruled out," he added.

    Leading Western powers have sought to isolate Damascus over its alleged role in last year's assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in Beirut, which had been categorically rejected by Syria.

    The isolation eased this summer as the European is increasingly seeing Damascus as a key player to solutions of the complicated conflicts in the Middle East.