Syrian- Russian 9th Session Final Protocol on Economic, Trade, Scientific and Technical Cooperation Signed in Sochi

Moscow, (ST) _ Works of the 9th session of the Syrian-Russian standing committee for economic, trade scientific and technical cooperation started yesterday in Sochi, headed by Dr. Ismail Ismail, minister of finance and Dmitry Rogozin, Russian deputy prime minister.

During the opening session Rogozin said that Russia supports the struggle of the Syrian people and their right to protect their territory, adding that “this has been confirmed by the Russian diplomacy in the daily work in international forums.”

 “The Syrian people demonstrated firm stand by President Bashar al-Assad during the presidential elections in Syria, despite the very difficult circumstances,” the Russian official said, adding that the current situation requires the Syrian people, “not only to struggle in difficult conditions, but also to address the extremists.”

He stressed Russia‘s all forms of support for Syria at the directives of the Russian President Vladimir Putin especially in economy, trade and reconstruction sectors.

For his part, the Syrian minister of finance conveyed President al-Assad greetings to President Putin, expressing gratitude to the Russian people over the principled positions in support of Syria in confronting international terrorism, backed by regional and western powers l led by the USA.

Following discussion of findings concluded by the technical committees from both sides, the final protocol of the 9th session of the Syrian –Russian permanent committee on economic, trade, scientific and technical cooperation was co-signed by heads of the two committees. Also signed were an agreement on customs facilitation between the two countries and a memorandum of understanding between the ministry of economy and foreign trade and the ministry of economic development in the Russian federation.

Syria’s ambassador to Moscow Dr. Riad Haddad said that the convening the Syrian-Russian joint committee under these critical circumstances was sensitive and very important, as relations between the two countries have been greatly improved , pointing to the role of the Syrian embassy in Moscow, the Russian embassy in Damascus in activating bilateral cooperation in all fields.

Deputy Head of the Syrian- Russian Business Council Samer Othman, said that results of the meetings were more than good and that a green corridor of the customs agreement was established to facilitate the transfer of goods from and to Syria and Russia. He added that over the next few days, the first shipment of Syrian vegetables and fruits Syrian on the itinerary of the port of Lattakia to the port of Novorossiysk will be run directly without passing through any other country, and these shipments will be transported regularly once every ten days and will include all kinds of vegetables and fruits.

 T. Fateh