Antonio Tajani says Italy wants to serve as a bridge between Damascus and the European Union.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has held talks with Syria’s new rulers and called for talks on easing European Union sanctions imposed on the previous government of Bashar al-Assad.

Tajani met Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus on Friday, saying that sanctions imposed after al-Assad’s crackdown on antigovernment protests that triggered the country’s 13-year civil war “absolutely must not hit the Syrian population”.

“They were imposed because there was a different regime. It’s important to open discussions on the changed situation,” he said, refering to last month’s opposition takeover of the country, led by al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham armed group, which brought al-Assad’s rule to an abrupt end.

Tajani said Italy wanted to help Syria recover from civil war and rebuild its broken economy, serving as a bridge between Damascus and the EU.

“The Mediterranean can no longer just be a sea of death, a cemetery of migrants but a sea of commerce a sea of development,” he said.

Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Damascus, said the meeting with al-Sharaa was “quite significant.”

“[It] gives you a sense that the international community recognises the fact that this new administration is a new reality, and they would like to do business with it.”

‘Tangible progress’ needed

Tajani arrived in Damascus after hosting talks in Rome with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, and officials from the United Kingdom, France and Germany on Thursday.

He said that the meeting of the so-called Quintet on Syria was key to beginning the discussion about a change to the EU sanctions.

Kallas said earlier on Friday that the 27-nation bloc could begin lifting sanctions if Syria’s new rulers took steps to form an inclusive government that protects minorities.

“The EU could gradually ease sanctions provided there is tangible progress,” Kallas wrote on X.

In Damascus, Tajani also met Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani, who announced that he would soon make his first official tour of Europe.

Al-Shaibani has already visited Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Jordan since the start of the month.

Al-Shaibani said he welcomed Tajani’s focus on sanctions.

“We share his opinion that the reasons for imposing them no longer exist, and could be an obstacle to encouraging the return of refugees from outside Syria”, he said.

More than half a million people were killed in Syria’s war, which also ravaged the economy and forced millions of people to flee their homes, including to Europe.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies