The 20-minute telephone conversation -- their first contact since February 7 -- came at Chirac's initiative, with his spokesman Catherine Colonna calling it a "positive" exchange.

The French president told Bush of "France's willingness to act in a pragmatic way" on issues relating to the post-war reconstruction of Iraq, Colonna said.

Chirac listed disarmament, the issue of sanctions, the shape of an interim government for Iraq and the country's oil resources as the key questions on the table, Colonna said

The spokeswoman added that Bush had thanked Chirac "for this conversation and for this approach."

With respect to US threats to Syria, Colonna quoted Chirac as telling Bush he hoped that nothing would raise tensions in the region.

In the build-up to the US-led war in Iraq, Chirac steadfastly opposed the use of military force against Baghdad, sparking the ire of US officials and a wave of anti-French sentiment in the United States.

Paris, Berlin and Moscow formed a united front within the UN Security Council against US war plans, and Chirac's vow to veto a resolution authorizing military action forced Washington and London to go it alone in Iraq.

Chirac told Bush that his "analysis of the necessity of the war had not changed," Colonna said, reiterating that France was opposed to all "preventive wars" and conflicts entered into without UN backing.

Nonetheless, the French leader said he was delighted with the crumbling of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime and the "brevity of this war."

"Much remains to be done, in fact, following the fall of Saddam Hussein in order to give back to the Iraqi people their sovereignty and their dignity," Chirac's spokeswoman told reporters.

"France believes that the international community should take no chances and therefore give way to the United Nations as soon as possible. It's in everyone's best interest," she added.

Late Monday, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin and US Secretary of State Colin Powell paved the way for the Chirac-Bush talks, speaking by phone about Iraq and the escalating war of words between Washington and Damascus.

French foreign ministry spokesman Francois Rivasseau on Tuesday qualified the conversation as "pragmatic and focused on the future."

The United States has accused Syria of harboring weapons of mass destruction, testing chemical weapons in the past 15 months and offering safe haven to fugitive members of Saddam's ousted regime.

Syria on Tuesday condemned the claims by US officials, charging that they were inspired by Israel, the official Syrian news agency SANA reported.

De Villepin -- who made a lightning visit to Damascus, Cairo, Beirut and Riyadh at the weekend -- told Powell that the war in Iraq had sparked a "feeling of worry and humiliation" in the Arab world, Rivasseau told reporters.

On Monday, the French minister called for restraint and moderation following the US accusations against Syria, saying dialogue was the only way to resolve problems in the region as a whole.

SPACE.WIRE