Syrian Foreign Minister Goes to UAE, Qatar and Jordan to ‘Build Partnerships’ | Politics News
The war-torn country is looking for much-needed investment, as Saudi Arabia will also play a major role in rebuilding.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani has announced that he will visit Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, having just completed his first official foreign trip to Saudi Arabia earlier this week.
The top diplomat in Syria’s new government said in a social media post on Friday that he would visit the three countries this week to “support stability, security, economic recovery and build respectable partnerships.”
The new government, made up of rebels who brought in a brutal decades-long rule al-Asad family to an abrupt end last month, is eager for investment from wealthy Gulf states to help rebuild the country’s infrastructure and boost an economy devastated by more than a decade of war.
Saudi Arabia already it seems that he will play a big role in the revival of the country. Earlier this week, al-Shaibani led a high-level delegation to Riyadh that included the new defense minister and intelligence chief.
A Saudi delegation from the King Salman Center for Humanitarian Aid and Relief headed to Damascus on Friday, where they met with Syrian Health Minister Maher al-Shara to discuss humanitarian and medical cooperation, state news agency SANA reported.
Saudi Arabia’s visit came as the new government, headed by Ahmed al-Sharaais trying to revive a devastated health system, in ruins after 13 years of war and destroyed by nepotism and corruption.
On Friday, al-Sharaa and Lebanon’s interim prime minister Najib Mikati agreed in a phone call to restore peace on the 375 km (233 mile) border after clashes between Lebanese troops and Syrian gunmen in which five of the former were injured.
Mikati’s office issued a statement quoting al-Sharaa as saying his administration had done “everything necessary to restore peace at the borders and prevent a repeat of what happened.”
Al-Sharaa, which leads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), also invited Mikati to visit Damascus and discuss common interests.
