President Bashar al-Assad of Syria says he expects a state of emergency to be lifted next week, after weeks of anti-government protests.
The comments were made in a televised speech to his newly formed cabinet on Saturday.
Emergency law has been in force in Syria since 1963. It imposes restrictions on public gatherings and movement, authorises the interrogation of any individual and the monitoring of private communications and imposes media censorship.
The BBC reports the lifting of the law has been a key demand of the protesters.
On Friday, tens of thousands of demonstrators rallied in Damascus, in one of the biggest such turnouts since protests began last month. Almost 200 people have been killed since then.
On Thursday an amnesty was announced for scores of prisoners detained in the past month.
