In this Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2018 photo, Chinese visitors arrive to the opening of the Syria rebuilding exhibition at the fair grounds in Damascus, Syria. With back-to-back trade fairs held in Damascus this month, Syria hopes to jumpstart reconstruction of its devastated cities by inviting international investors to take part in lucrative opportunities. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
OCTOBER 3rd, 2018
By Patryk Krych | The World Daily
Syria to begin rebuilding efforts, though may suffer a few setbacks
Syria is hoping to start reconstruction of its ruined cities, by means of trade deals with international investors in Damascus this month, inviting them to take part in business prospects and building general alliances, especially with the West. The lack of Western partakers so far may be one of the setbacks in rebuilding, as well as the lack of any kind of political resolution to the conflicts that have been occurring in the country for the past 7 years.
So far there have been some contributions on the part of Syria’s allies; Russia and Iran, but they have been minimal so far, and nowhere near enough to even begin the rebuilding efforts of the country. The Syrian government have, however, promised award contracts to countries that had assisted them during the civil war, or as they deem them; “friendly countries”, with the foreign minister having stated that any country that sets political conditions before bargaining on Syria’s rebuilding fund is “neither invited nor welcome to help.”
The Syrian city rebuilding costs are thought to be between £190 billion and £300 billion, with £37 billion needed for rebuilding of the housing areas alone. Nearly half the entire country’s population of 23 million civilians have gone, with 6 million having left the country, and another 6 million having been displace within the country itself. The country is in dire need of a fix, and Syrian officials believe that the first step to this would be to focus on rebuilding efforts to make the country habitable once again.
The government, however, still only controls about 60% of Syrian territories. But they believe it is time to start making Syria habitable once more. On Tuesday, the Public Works and Housing Minister Hussein Arnous said that “The process of eradicating terrorism has reached its final stages, and the reconstruction phase is knocking on the doors.”
Arnous spoke this at the 4th International Trade Exhibition for Rebuilding Syria, held at the Damascus International Fairgrounds near the airport. The exhibition was apparently attended by 270 companies from 29 countries, most of which were Iranian and Lebanese, even with the sanctions placed on the country.
The sales manager at Balkis Ceramics; Youssef Alousi, had also spoken that; “I don’t hope that the West will come here, because it had a big hand in the war against Syria,” a factor remaining true with most Northern Syrian regions held by opposition, and backed by the US, “Syria will be rebuilding Syria.”
To emphasize this, the general area around the exhibition was fairly damaged itself, with ruined buildings and collapsed structures on the roads all around. After Iran, Lebanese participants were the most common at the exhibition, with the head of the Syrian-Lebanese Supreme Council, Nasri Khoury, having said that it’s; “high time for the Lebanese government to reconsider its existing policy if wants to play a principle role in rebuilding Syria.”
Khoury refers to Lebanon’s indecision in striking a deal with Syria, with many companies wanting to join in on the reconstruction efforts, but also having characters such as Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who’s been expressively unenthusiastic on the matter of standardising relations with Syria whilst under Assad.
Russia have also made a surprisingly small turnout, with only one company present at the exhibition. Russia have been some of Syria’s greatest allies over the course of the war, with forces converging to help the government take back the North and wipe out the final rebel strongholds. President Asaad and President Putin are thought to be on good terms as such, with Russia being highly influential to Syria’s military successes since 2015.
Russia also seems to be at odds with China at the moment, who are also making slight gestures towards assisting in Syria’s rebuilding efforts. A worker of the Russian petrochemical firm JSC Promcatalys, Valeriy Anisimov, mentioned that his company were in the midst of negotiations with two Syrian oil refineries, and that; “There are many problems with Syria industry because of U.S. sanctions, and our company is ready to provide all the catalysts, all the technologies that Syrian customers cannot get because of these sanctions.”
In this Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2018 photo, participants sit next to a poster of Syrian President Bashar Assad during the opening of the Syria rebuilding exhibition at the fair grounds in Damascus, Syria. With back-to-back trade fairs held in Damascus this month, Syria hopes to jumpstart reconstruction of its devastated cities by inviting international investors to take part in lucrative opportunities. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
By Patryk Krych | The World Daily
©2018 THE WORLD DAILY
