Syria delegation attends Arab League for 1st time in 12 years

With the participation of the Syrian delegation, activities of the senior officials meeting preparatory for the Economic and Social Council of the works of the Arab League (AL), scheduled to be held on May 19 in Saudi Arabia, kicked off in the Saudi city of Jeddah, SANA reported.

The Syrian delegation encompasses Assistant Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade for International Affairs, Rania Ahmed, Director of Arab Affairs Department, Ambassador Riyad Abbas, Director of International Relations Anas Al-Bikai, and Counselor Ihsan Rumman from the Office of Foreign Minister.

In their speech, a number of the participating delegations welcomed resuming Syria’s participation in these meetings, including the delegations of Saudi Arabia, Libya, and Iraq and representatives of Morocco, Oman, and the Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Affairs in the General Secretariat of the Arab League.

Head of the Syrian delegation, Assistant Minister of Economy, Rania Ahmed expressed, in her speech, Syria's appreciation and thanks to the Arab countries which offered assistance to alleviate the repercussions of the earthquake disaster on the Syrian people.

“Syria attaches great importance of the return of the displaced people, due to the war, to their homes and cities, which requires activating the economic movement in their areas through encouraging the establishment of small and medium projects in various sectors,” Ahmad said, adding that legislations and programs which support that and provide facilitations for the foreign companies wishing to invest in Syria have been issued.

Ahmed called for the work to remove tariff and non-tariff measures on intra-trade, in order to enhance the role of the “Greater Arab Free Trade Area” (GAFTA) in Arab economic development.

Ahmed pointed out the necessity of adopting a decision to increase the number of the states represented in the fields of management of joint companies and Arab financial institutions in a way that contributes to granting the intermediate and small shareholders the opportunity to participate in the formulation and decision-making to encourage these institutions to establish their projects in Syria.

Earlier, foreign ministers from Arab League member states agreed to reinstate Syria’s membership after its suspension more than 10 years ago.

The ministers voted for Syria’s return into the fold at the Arab League’s headquarters in Cairo.

SKH/PR