Russia and Syria Moving Towards New Phase of Economic Relations

March 17, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—In an interview with Sputnik, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stressed that his visit to Moscow, and his March 15 talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, will pave the way for a new phase in the relations between the two countries, particularly in the economic realm. The meeting of the joint committee, led by the two Presidents and made up of senior ministers of both sides, was focused on investment projects, Assad reported. The agreement to be signed in the coming weeks

“is directed towards 40 specific investment projects in the fields of energy, i.e. electricity and oil, in the field of transportation, in the field of housing, in the industrial fields, in many other different fields, but with precisely defined projects, and also mechanisms have been added to them to follow up and make these projects successful,”

Assad said. “So, from an economic point of view, it is a new progress in the relations, so as you said at the beginning, the delegation was a large delegation because work on this agreement took years, not months, but intensified work has been in recent months.”

As for recovery from the earthquake disaster, Assad said this is now focused on reconstruction, in which Russia has a large role to play.

“I conveyed my thanks to President Putin and the Russian government for their assistance, because the Russian government rushed from the first hours to help Syria, and the Russian army participated in the rescue operations, and this aid is still continuing, but there is another side of the support related to the earthquake, which is related to the reconstruction and return of the displaced to their homes,”

he said. “Before we ask for assistance from any party with this vital issue for the next stage, we must put in Syria mechanisms and structures for the reconstruction process, and this is what we are doing.”

While Assad was giving his interviews, a Syrian economic delegation, led by Mansour Azzam, Minister of Presidential Affairs, was meeting with a Russian delegation headed by Irek Faizullin, Minister of Construction, Housing and Utilities, Chairman of the Joint Syrian-Russian Committee. These ministerial meetings come in the context of continuous follow-up of the work of the joint governmental committee between the two countries, and in an effort to strengthen bilateral efforts to confront the effects of illegal Western economic sanctions, in a way that guarantees the investment of the economic energies of the two countries to serve the interests of the two friendly peoples, reported SANA.