Increasing National, Foreign Investment Needed

DAMASCUS, (ST) – The first session of the second day of the conference on “Reconstruction and Development in Syria,” which took place recently at the Faculty of Economy at Damascus University focused on the role of the Syrian Investment Authority (SIA) in reconstruction and how to access early recovery from the crisis as well as the rehabilitation of the road network, the network transport and communications according to the criteria of sustainable development.

The Director General of the Syrian Investment Agency eng. Hala Ghazal pointed out that that the interior investment environment is suffering from lack of the possibility of field follow-up on the reality of investment projects in the current circumstances and the cessation of several memorandums of understanding and relationships with foreign bodies and the weakness of the budget allocations earmarked for infrastructure projects, especially networking project and developing the directorate of technical affairs.

Eng. Ghazal explained that the current challenges of investment because of the crisis are represented in the departure of many investment projects and industrial facilities as a result of acts of destruction, the economic blockade, theft and the great impact on infrastructure and public services.

The director of the  SIA paid attention to the exit of many local and foreign investments and the closure of many facilities and stopping of the production process in addition to the lack of promotion climate  and the negative reflection on the implementation of the investment plan, indicating that the next stage requires to increase both national and foreign private investment, and to create the economic, social, political and legislative conditions to encourage investors and help to provide the best conditions for the success of investment operations.

For his part, Dr. Fadl Gharzeddine of the Planning and International Cooperation Authority talked about the early recovery and reconstruction of Syria saying that the process of economic reform and preparation for the post-crisis early must begin, even under the conditions of its continuity through defining the roles of the public and private sectors and civil society in the development process and to give priority to agriculture, industry and partnership between the public and private sectors and mapping out the small enterprises development programs.

He also indicated to the importance of developing and creating economic, social and cultural institutions, developing vocational associations and finding an access to communicate with the houses of local, external and government expertise to develop policy-making, pointing to the need to establish strategic economic relations with friendly countries and give a strategic dimension to the relationship with these countries by giving special legislative advantages to deal with them in the domains of investment and commerce or setting up partnerships with them in the economic and social fields.

Interventions, at the end of the meeting, focused on the need to involve banks in the reconstruction and investment and the need to make harmony with the government monetary, financial and commercial policies and to focus on the economic feasibility of investment projects and rely on local resources

The Minister of Labor, Dr. Hassan Hijazi the importance of drawing a population policy that takes into account the population growth rates with the participation of  all concerned bodies and giving human resources a priority being the mainstay of the development and reconstruction process  in the future to be a positive resource, pointing out that the significant increase in the number of the labor force in Syria, amounting to about Six million has doubled four times over the last forty years.

Dr. Hijazi pointed to that the reconstruction phase will serve as an important tractor that will form the catalyst and prime mover in the process of development and construction in general and will reflect positively on all economic sectors and in all areas, indicating that the ministry has provided a study including an analysis of the labor force and a future vision of the population growth and its implications.

The minister pointed to the importance of reviewing the educational process and its outcomes at the secondary level, specially vocational and technical education, noting that the proportion of the students in the faculties of Humanity of around 70 percent, while the labor market does not require such as these specialists at high rates.

The minister pointed out that the ministry is seeking to amend the laws that govern the relationship between workers and employers, and social insurance, thus the legislative environment will be improved.

For his part, the demographic researcher Dr. Akram al Qash affirmed the importance of expediting the completion of the population policy draft and the creation of a an integrated population database, at the national and regional levels, that enables policy-makers and decision-makers and researchers knowing the points of strength, weakness, the opportunities and challenges in order to achieve a balance between the rates of population and economic growth.

Dr. al –Qash pointed to the importance of the production of accurate figures according to adopting the latest scientific methodologies, developing the potentials of scientific cadres, strengthening the linkage between monitoring, statistics and scientific research institutions concerning population and drawing a comprehensive population map at the national, regional and governorate level with defining each region and province regarding population issues.

Dr. al –Qash indicated the need for the formation of an observatory of demographic variables and integrating the population factor with the  development plans, improving the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the population and mapping out intrusive and proactive developmental policies to be absorbed, indicating the repercussions of the crisis on the demographic indicators according to the decline of population growth rates and the imbalance in the geographical distribution of point of concentration and dispersion, and the growth of slums.

For his part, Dr. Maher Buzu Environment Directorate of Damascus pointed to the need to establish an independent special body of broad powers to ensure national funding sources for reconstruction and the creation of a variety of investment funds and study the environmental impact of each project and the use of the concept of green architecture.

Sharif el -Khatib