The executives who had talks with Assad included representatives from top technology firms Microsoft, Dell and Sisco as well as Symantec and Verisign, a statement from the embassy in Damascus said.

The visit "was organised by the American secretary of state and aims at tapping the Syrian market," the statement in Arabic said.

Several US delegations, both political and military, have visited Syria over the past year amid efforts by the administration of US President Barack Obama to engage Syria, a former US foe, and reinvigorate Arab-Israeli peace talks.

But the visit by the trade delegation comes at a sensitive time.

In early May Obama renewed US sanctions on Syria for a year, accusing Damascus of supporting "terrorist" groups and pursuing missile programmes and weapons of mass destruction.

In addition, Washington accused Syria in April of arming the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah with increasingly sophisticated rockets and missiles.

US-Syria ties began to improve when Obama arrived in the White House in January 2009, to take over from his predecessor George W. Bush who had declared a national emergency regarding Syria on May 11, 2004, and imposed economic sanctions over charges it was a state sponsor of terrorism.

In February of this year, Obama appointed Robert Ford US ambassador to Damascus to fill a seat that had been vacant for the past five years amid strained relations between the two countries.

Assad, who won another seven-year term in power in May 2007, has a passion for computers and information technology which he shares with his wife, Asma, who studied economics and computer technology.

US Middle East envoy George Mitchell told Assad during talks in July 2009 that Washington would try to speed up the process by which exemptions to sanctions can be obtained, with particular attention to "requests to export products related to information technology and telecommunications equipment."

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