EU seeks to expand investment ties with Syria through Damascus forum

Résumé détaillé

The EU is aiming to bolster investment ties with Syria, at a major forum in Damascus next week, as part of a wider effort to help stabilise the country and curb the influence of…

The EU is aiming to bolster investment ties with Syria, at a major forum in Damascus next week, as part of a wider effort to help stabilise the country and curb the influence of Iran and Russia, allies of the former Assad regime.

Europe is putting in "serious work and funding into rebuilding Syria", an EU official told The National.

"If Syria can develop its own prosperity and security and project that to the neighbourhood, we, as the EU, as well as the broader region, have a lot to gain."

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Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shibani and EU Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica will on Tuesday co-chair the Syria Partnership Co-ordination Forum.

The event is aimed at laying the ​groundwork for a possible EU-Syria business conference in 2027. There will be no pledges, the primary objective being to build co-ordination.

It will mark the return to Syria of the European Investment Bank, represented by vice-president Gelsomina Vigliotti, for the first time in 15 years.

Representatives of EU and Arabian Gulf states, as well as international development banks and UN agencies, will also attend, The National understands.

The World Bank will present the recently unveiled START trust fund, a multi-donor fund supporting recovery and reconstruction in Syria.

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