Rome  - Syria Thursday marked another step in its improving relations with the West by signing an agreement with Italy aimed at boosting political, economic and cultural ties.

"Co-operation between Italy and Syria has resumed through intense dialogue," Italian Foreign Minister, Franco Frattini, said at a joint news conference in Rome with Syrian counterpart, Wallid Moallem.

Frattini stressed how a memorandum of understanding he signed with Moallem, seeks to establish "permanent bilateral relations" between the Rome and Damascus foreign ministries.

Thursday's agreement, including a two year-long commitment to work together in the technical and financial fields, was part of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's intention to establish a "strategic partnership with Italy," Moallem said.

Frattini, describing Italy as Syria's largest trading partner, said better relations also depended on Syria's commitment to peace in neighbouring Lebanon where Italian troops are deployed as part of the United Nations peacekeeping force.

Both ministers condemned the killing in Lebanon on Wednesday of pro-Syrian Druze politician Sheikh Saleh al-Aridi in a bomb attack, denouncing the act as the work of "terrorists."

Moallem said that Turkish-brokered indirect talks between Syria and Israel would resume in "mid-September" and both he and Frattini expressed the hope they would lead to direct negotiations between Damascus and the Jewish state.

Frattini also praised a recent Syrian proposal for an international conference to end the conflict in Sudan's western region of Darfur. (dpa)