By NNN-SANA,
Damascus : Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Abdullah Al-Dardari has stressed the depth of Syrian-Russian relations and the importance of developing them to cover the various economic, commercial, industrial and developmental areas and upgrading them to the level of their excellent historic political relations.
Receiving members of the Syrian-Russian Business Council here Thursday, Dardari called for an active role of the council and expanding its work to include the various fields, calling on Russian businessmen to invest in Syria due to the facilities offered by the government to the Arab and foreign investors through efforts to ensure the appropriate climate for investment and encouraging it under the title “Syria, the homeland of investment.”
He also reviewed the economic developments that Syria is witnessing and its role in pushing the overall development process forward.
For their part, the Russian businessmen expressed their desire to invest in Syria
due to the vast investment opportunities and because of the rapid economic development which Syria is currently witnessing.
Both sides reviewed ways to increase the volume of trade exchange between the two countries and the role of businessmen in that area.
Talks also touched on the importance of investing in infrastructure projects, energy, oil and gas, electricity, railway, airports, ports, irrigation and tourism in addition to financial and banking services and the importance of speeding the establishment of a Syrian joint bank, opening of the office of the Syrian-Russian businessmen in Damascus to serve Russian investors and businessmen and to facilitate trade exchanges between the two countries.
Later, a centre for the Syrian-Russian Businessmen Council opened in Tala Tower in the presence of the Russian Ambassador in Damascus Sergey Kirpichenko and a number of Syrian and Russian businessmen.
Representative of the Syrian side in the Council Saleh al-Mallah said that inauguration of the centre comes as a culmination of the continuous work in the framework of developing the economic relations between Syria and Russia. It is a key turning point for the opening of new horizons between Russian businessmen to be acquainted with a package of laws and legislation published in Syria in light of the overall development process.
Representative of the Russian side in the council Demetri Boumbeanski said that the Council now covers nearly 100 companies, 40 of them working together to develop trade relations between the two sides where they provide support and assistance to the Syrian businessmen in Russia while the Syrian side facilitates relations of Russian merchants with the Syrian merchants in the two countries.
He emphasized the good economic relations between the two countries, adding: “We look forward to improve and promote them to raise the volume of trade exchange during the coming years.”
He pointed out that the volume of trade exchange between Syria and Russia reached last year to nearly USD 1 billion.