Originally posted to The Middle East Monitor website, 4 October 2021
The UAE and the Syrian government yesterday held talks intended to revive and reform the Syrian-Emirati Businessmen Council in order to strengthen economic and trade ties between the two countries.
The meeting between Syria’s Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade, Dr Muhammad Samer Al-Khalil, and his Emirati counterpart, Abdullah Tawk, took place on the sidelines of the Dubai Expo 2020 exhibition. Also in attendance was Syria’s Ambassador to the UAE, Ghassan Abbas.
According to state news agency SANA, Al-Khalil stressed the importance of Syrian-Emirati relations and the need for both countries to diversify their economies. He congratulated the UAE on the achievement of the Expo despite the challenges of the pandemic, Tawq in turn expressed his country’s willingness to support Syria by transferring its experience in the economic sector.
Al-Khalil also took the opportunity to discuss enhancing ties between Damascus and China during talks with Zhang Shenfeng, the Commissioner General of the Chinese Pavilion at the event.
In 2018, the UAE reopened its embassy in Damascus, followed by Bahrain which said the Syrian Embassy in Manama was operating as usual. Defying US pressure, the UAE sent a large business delegation to the Damascus International Fair several months after re-opening its embassy. Syria was suspended from the Arab League over its failure to end the bloodshed caused by brutal government crackdowns on pro-democracy protests.
Link to the original post: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20211004-uae-syria-discuss-reactivating-trade-agreement/
