Türkiye and Syria have a “historic opportunity” to develop their bilateral relations throughout a number of areas, Trade Minister Ömer Bolat stated on Wednesday, as he arrived in Damascus for two-day talks.
The journey marks essentially the most high-profile go to by a Turkish financial official to Syria because the ouster of longtime regime dictator Bashar Assad. Bolat is accompanied by Turkish business leaders, in addition to the heads of chambers and commerce associations.
Following his talks with Syrian Economy and Industry Minister Nidal al-Shaar and Transport Minister Yarub Badr, Bolat stated officers held discussions on bilateral commerce points, new avenues for cooperation, Türkiye’s potential contributions to Syria’s reconstruction efforts and on making border crossings extra environment friendly and streamlined.
Syria is reeling from almost 14 years of civil struggle that decimated its infrastructure and financial system, and severed it from the worldwide monetary system. Opposition forces overthrew Assad after a lightning offensive in late December.
Since then, officers have repeatedly voiced Türkiye’s assist and readiness to assist rebuild the neighboring nation. Transport and manufacturing corporations eye huge enlargement plans for Syria in what some anticipate shall be a tripling of commerce.
Bolat stated talks with al-Shaar addressed bilateral commerce points, funding alternatives, infrastructure, transportation, vitality, finance, well being care and customs cooperation.
He reiterated that Türkiye stays absolutely dedicated to supporting the neighboring nation within the post-civil struggle reconstruction and rebuilding course of.
“In this context, Türkiye was one of the first countries to open representative offices in Aleppo and Damascus after the December 8th revolution,” Bolat wrote on the social media platform X.
Bolat stated the perimeters expressed their readiness to start out negotiations for a complete financial partnership settlement as quickly as attainable.
“Türkiye and Syria have a historic opportunity to develop their relations in a multidimensional manner in the new period,” the minister famous.
“We emphasized that we are open to cooperation with the business world in a wide range of areas, from investment to services, infrastructure, trade in goods, in line with Syria’s needs and demands,” he added.
Bolat was additionally scheduled to fulfill Syrian Finance Minister Mohammad Yasar Bernia and Qutaiba Ahmad Badawi, director-general of Land and Sea Ports.
Last yr, Türkiye’s exports to Syria stood at $2.2 billion, whereas its imports had been $437 million, official information confirmed.
In late January, Turkish and Syrian authorities agreed to start out talks to revive a free commerce settlement suspended in 2011, when the civil struggle started. And nationwide flag provider Turkish Airlines (THY) is considered one of a handful of carriers to have resumed flights to Damascus after a 13-year suspension.
Talks with Badr addressed the “strengthening of land, sea, rail and air transportation between Türkiye and Syria, the strengthening of ties in the field of logistics, and the possibilities of cooperation in the reconstruction of Syria’s transport infrastructure in all its dimensions,” stated Bolat.
Officials additionally evaluated the “issues of faster and more efficient transitions through customs gates between our countries and the initiation of transit passages that will make Syria a transit base,” he added.
Source: www.dailysabah.com