France's foreign ministry said the official visit by Culture Minister Riad Naassan Agha marked a "new page" in relations with Damascus, coming in the wake of a decision by President Nicolas Sarkozy to renew top-level ties.
Sarkozy has invited President Bashar al-Assad to Paris to attend a summit for the launch of a new Mediterranean Union next month.
"This visit is part of a new page we hope will be turned and written in relations between France and Syria, insofar as recent positive developments continue," said ministry spokeswoman Pascale Andreani.
Visiting Beirut on Saturday to meet Lebanese President Michel Sleiman, whose election put an end to months of sectarian strife, Sarkozy said a "new page may be opening in relations between France and Syria".
Naassan Agha met Tuesday afternoon with French counterpart Christine Albanel later on Tuesday, telling reporters afterwards he wanted to "turn the page with Paris through the great medium of culture."
"We are not beginning a relationship with France, we are pursuing it," Naassan Agha added, saying the ties between the two countries "go back more than 100 years."
The French culture ministry said in a statement that the pair "discussed the prospect of the Mediterranean Union summit."
Experts say Sarkozy is hoping to secure Assad's presence in July, to boost the launch of a project he has championed despite a lukewarm welcome from some European and Arab states.
"Sarkozy's main concern is the meeting of July 13. He wants his summit to be a success," said Antoine Basbous of the Observatory of Arab Countries (OPA) in Paris.
The Syrian minister also said he held talks with the heads of the Louvre museum and the French national library.
Syria for almost three decades was the powerbroker in Lebanon, a longtime focal point of French interest in the Middle East.
Both France and the United States have accused Syria, through its supporters in the Lebanese opposition, of meddling in Beirut's political life, a charge denied by Damascus.
Paris broke off contacts with Damascus in 2004 under Sarkozy's predecessor Jacques Chirac.
Relations were further harmed by suspicions of Syrian involvement in the February 2005 assassination in Beirut of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, who was a personal friend of Chirac.
Sarkozy moved to resume relations after taking power in May last year, and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner met in November with his Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem, the first such contacts since 2004.
But Paris suspended top-level ties again in December as the crisis between
pro- and anti-Syrian political camps in Lebanon took a turn for the worse, degenerating into violence that killed 65 people last month.
The two sides finally reached agreement on May 21 in Doha, leading to the election of then army chief and consensus candidate Sleiman after a six-month power vacuum.
Sarkozy immediately called Assad, arguing that France's conditions for renewing dialogue -- "positive, concrete developments" towards ending the Lebanese crisis -- had been met.
But according to Basbous, the choice to invite the culture minister -- rather than Syria's foreign minister -- shows Paris is still treading carefully with Damascus.
Sarkozy's move to resume ties met with a cautious reaction from the US State Department, which said Monday Washington would discuss the issue with Paris.
