DAMASCUS, Oct 3 (AFP) - Syrian and US officials held talks in Washington on threatened sanctions against the Commercial Bank of Syria over allegations of financing terrorism, the official news agency SANA reported Sunday.
It said the talks Saturday involving Syrian Finance Minister Mohammed al-Hussein and US Treasury officials were a follow-up to consultations held last month in Damascus and that the last outstanding issues were resolved.
Dureid Dargham, director of the state-owned bank, also took part in the Washington talks and said he hoped for cooperation between the two sides "rather than a futile confrontation".
The United States has raised concerns over the alleged involvement of the Syrian bank in money-laundering operations and the financing of terrorism, threatening sanctions under the Patriot Act passed after the September 11 attacks.
Syria itself has been under US economic sanctions since May on charges of supporting terrorism and working to destabilise Iraq.
But US Secretary of State Colin Powell said last month that Damascus had since shown a "positive" attitude in addressing US concerns on securing the border with its eastern neighbour to keep out anti-US fighters.