Syria’s new ruler has privatized state-owned ports and factories, invited foreign investment and boosted international trade as part of economic reforms aimed at ending decades of pariah statehood. the country’s foreign minister told the Financial Times.
“(Assad’s) vision was that of a security state. Ours is economic development,” Assad al-Shaibani said in his first wide-ranging interview with an international news organization in Damascus. “We need laws and a clear message to pave the way for foreign investors and encourage Syrian investors to return to Syria.”
Shaibani spoke to the FT on Wednesday ahead of his attendance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where Syria will participate for the first time in the annual meeting of global decision makers. He used the visit to renew calls for the lifting of Assad-era punitive sanctions, which he said would hinder Syria’s economic recovery and prevent other countries from making “clear readiness” for investment. Ta.
Western nations have been quick to engage, but many say they are waiting to see if the new leader will live up to his lofty promises before easing sanctions.
The minister is one of the key figures in the new interim government and is close to the country’s de facto ruler, Ahmed al-Sharah, formerly known by his official name Abu Mohammad al-Jolani. The Shara’a Islamic extremist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham led the offensive that toppled former dictator Bashar al-Assad in December.
In the weeks since, Shaibani said technocrats and former Assad government officials have been working to uncover the damage the regime, which ran a closed socialist economy, inflicted on the country and its coffers. Ta.
These include the revelation of $30 billion in debt to former Assad allies Iran and Russia, the central bank’s non-existent foreign exchange reserves, bloated public sector labor costs, and agriculture that has been neglected and undermined by the corrupt Assad regime. This includes the decline of industries such as manufacturing and manufacturing. policy.
Shaibani acknowledged that the challenges ahead are enormous and will take years to address. He said a commission has been established to examine Syria’s economic situation and infrastructure, and will focus on privatization efforts such as oil, cotton and furniture factories.
He also said he would explore public-private partnerships to boost investment in airports, rail and roads. But the challenge will be finding a buyer for a company that has languished for years in a devastated country cut off from foreign investment.
Shaibani said reconstruction is the immediate priority, including ensuring there is enough bread, water, electricity and fuel for a population pushed to the brink of poverty by the Assad regime, war and sanctions.
“We don’t want to live on humanitarian aid, and we don’t want countries to give us money as if they were throwing their investments into the ocean,” he said.
He added that easing U.S. and European sanctions on the Assad regime and the former al-Qaeda affiliate HTS, which many Western governments still classify as a terrorist group, is key.
The United States has announced some limited sanctions waivers, including for countries seeking interim support for Syria, but officials say this is not enough. “Open your doors so these places can start operating,” Shaibani said.
Some Western capitals, such as Berlin, appear open to some easing of sanctions, but are awaiting the new Islamist-led government’s approach on issues such as women’s and minority rights. The EU is scheduled to discuss regional sanctions at its foreign ministers’ meeting on January 27.
The EU’s chief diplomat, Kaja Kalas, said this month that sanctions relief “must be accompanied by concrete progress in a political transition that reflects Syria’s full diversity.”
Shaibani said Syria’s new leadership is working to reassure Gulf Arab and Western officials that the country is not a threat.
Some countries in the region, particularly the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, are wary of a resurgence of Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, while other Arab countries are concerned about the rebels’ success. They are concerned about the possibility of reigniting revolutionary sentiment in their own country.
Shaybani said Syria has no intention of “exporting the revolution and starting to get involved in other countries’ problems.” He said the new government’s priority is not to threaten other countries, but to build regional alliances that will pave Syria’s path to prosperity.
He said Syria’s “special relationship” with Turkey, the rebels’ most active supporter in the 13-year war against Assad, meant the country could benefit from Ankara’s technology, regional importance and European ties. He added that he would be able to accept it.
But Shaybani refuted concerns that this would unduly influence its northern neighbor or lead to “Turkish expansion.” “Conquest does not and will not exist,” he said.
One of the key challenges facing the new government is the fate of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, a US partner in the fight against ISIS. But the Turkish government sees it as an extension of Kurdish separatists who have been fighting the Turkish state for years, and has threatened to launch a military operation in northeastern Syria if Kurdish militias are not disbanded.
Since taking office, Syria’s new leaders have called for a unified Syria and sought to disband the SDF and integrate its fighters into the state, but the SDF has so far refused. Mr. Shaibani said talks were underway with the military, adding that Damascus was also prepared to seize an SDF-controlled prison housing thousands of captured IS fighters.
“The existence of the Self-Defense Forces no longer has legitimacy,” Shaibani said, adding that authorities had promised to guarantee Kurdish rights in the new constitution and ensure Kurdish representation in the government.
