"Relations between the United States and Syria often have been challenging," Ford said in a statement issued by the US embassy.
"President al-Assad and I talked about some areas in which we hope to identify mutual interests and ways of addressing them that serve the interests of both of our countries.
"President (Barack) Obama sending me here is proof that we are committed to try and solve the problems between our governments."
In Washington, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley, marking the occasion on the microblogging website Twitter, said Ford "will be candid in communicating our views on key issues."
A veteran diplomat in the Arab world, Ford has served as ambassador to Algeria and more recently as deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Baghdad. His wife, Alison Barkley, is a US diplomat serving in Saudi Arabia.
Ford`s appointment comes almost six years after Washington withdrew ambassador Margaret Scobey from Damascus in the wake of the February 2005 assassination of Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq Hariri in Beirut.
The attack was widely blamed on Syria but Damascus has always denied the allegations.
Ford`s arrival comes at a time of mounting tensions in neighbouring Lebanon, where Iran and Syria-backed Hezbollah and its allies quit the cabinet on January 12 over a UN probe into Hariri`s murder expected to indict members of the Shiite Muslim party. (AK/K004)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
