Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt ? In a diplomatic turning point for the Bush administration, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Thursday with Syria’s foreign minister and expressed U.S. concerns about the country’s porous border with Iraq.

“I didn’t lecture him and he didn’t lecture me,” Rice said after the first Cabinet-level talks in years between the countries.

Prospects dimmed for a more dramatic face-to-face discussion between Rice and Iran’s foreign minister. “We haven’t planned and have not asked for a bilateral meeting, nor have they asked us,” she said.

The administration has resisted talks with Syria and Iran despite the recommendations of allies, the Iraq Study Group and U.S. lawmakers from both parties.

“It’s a start,” Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said after the 30-minute session.

The carefully orchestrated meeting overshadowed the modest initial accomplishments from a 50-nation gathering devoted to improving Iraq’s security and financial bottom line. Iraq’s embattled prime minister was among those leaning on the U.S. to engage Syria and Iran, arguing they could help lessen the violence in neighboring Iraq.

Until now, Rice and President Bush had said Syria knew what it could do to help Iraq – tighten its border – and did not need the U.S. to point it out. The U.S. claims Syria looks the other way while fighters from many countries cross its border to join the ranks of al-Qaida and other insurgent or terrorist groups.

Ahead of the meeting, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad said Syria had somewhat stemmed the flow of foreign fighters. “There has been some movement by the Syrians,” said Maj. Gen. William Caldwell. “There has been a reduction in the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq” for more than a month.

The administration has said it worries that Syria will use any contact with the U.S. as leverage in a dispute over alleged Syrian meddling in fragile Lebanon. Rice said that subject did not come up Thursday.