Syria has embarked on a new program to encourage foreign investment in the country, according to Arab media reports. At a recent press conference, Syria?s Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade, Ghassan Rifai, described the new investment laws as ?positive and generous? and said that they compare favorably with such laws in other countries. He also called on Syrian expatriates to take advantage of the laws and to invest in the national economy of their motherland.
As part of the Syrian investment stimulation incentive, the government issued three decrees establishing three new Syrian free-trade zones, in the districts of Hasaka, Deir Ezour and Latakiya. In addition, the Syrian minister said that there were ongoing economic feasibility studies for the establishment of two additional free-trade zones close to the Syrian-Lebanese borders and another at the coastal region. The free-trade zones, it turns out, were not for the production of products for the Syrian market, as only 25 percent of the products produced in the free-trade zones are permitted to reach the domestic market, which minister Rifai presented as another sign of Syrian economic liberalness. The latest Assad decree, Rifai explained, allowed for the establishment of service, industrial, and commercial investments including in banks, electro-services, hotels, restaurants, medical centers, insurance companies and more.
Meanwhile, Syria is investing in Iraq. The Syrian daily a-Thawra reported this week that Syrian public companies have signed textile contracts worth 13 million US dollars with the Baghdad regime. The agreement was made, the newspaper reports, at the directive of the Syrian Ministry of Industry. The total figure reportedly under negotiation between the two dictatorships is 16 million US dollars. Syrian and Iraqi officials say that the value of trade exchange between the two states is approaching one billion dollars, according to local press reports.
As part of the Syrian investment stimulation incentive, the government issued three decrees establishing three new Syrian free-trade zones, in the districts of Hasaka, Deir Ezour and Latakiya. In addition, the Syrian minister said that there were ongoing economic feasibility studies for the establishment of two additional free-trade zones close to the Syrian-Lebanese borders and another at the coastal region. The free-trade zones, it turns out, were not for the production of products for the Syrian market, as only 25 percent of the products produced in the free-trade zones are permitted to reach the domestic market, which minister Rifai presented as another sign of Syrian economic liberalness. The latest Assad decree, Rifai explained, allowed for the establishment of service, industrial, and commercial investments including in banks, electro-services, hotels, restaurants, medical centers, insurance companies and more.
Meanwhile, Syria is investing in Iraq. The Syrian daily a-Thawra reported this week that Syrian public companies have signed textile contracts worth 13 million US dollars with the Baghdad regime. The agreement was made, the newspaper reports, at the directive of the Syrian Ministry of Industry. The total figure reportedly under negotiation between the two dictatorships is 16 million US dollars. Syrian and Iraqi officials say that the value of trade exchange between the two states is approaching one billion dollars, according to local press reports.