Economic Cooperation Between Syria, Belarus Discussed

DAMASCUS, (ST) –The Minister of Industry Kamalueddin Tomeh and the Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade, Dr. Hammam al -Jazairi recently discussed with the Syrian -Belarusian Business Council, headed by the Vice President of the Council Inayatullah Hassoun, areas of economic, commercial and industrial cooperation which will be presented at the meetings of the sixth session of the Joint Commission between the two countries in Minsk in the end of next March.

The conferees discussed the establishment of a joint venture for the production of trucks and buses in Syria in cooperation between the General Organization of Engineering Industries and the two Belarusian companies Maz and MZKT in addition to the establishment of other industrial investment projects for the production of pharmacological glass and hollow electric tools in collaboration with institutions and companies of the Ministry of Industry and Belarusian companies.

Dr. al -Jazairi  and Tomeh called to increase the level of cooperation with the Belarusian side and the establishment of joint ventures and projects and the development of bilateral trade volume between the two countries and take advantage of the technical and technological development of Belarus to develop the capacity of Syrian companies and increase their competitiveness in various fields.

The two miinisters stressed the need for the Council to submit proposals for the development of the process of economic cooperation with Belarus and the private sector and confirmed the role to be played by the private sector in the development of this cooperation and raise its contribution to the volume of trade exchange.

For his part, Mr. Hassoun pointed out that the Council seeks to transform the needs of the Belarusian market into business opportunities for Syrian goods and increase the volume of national exports of industrial products.

Secretary of the Council, Dr. Kotaiba Hassan called on the Syrian economic activities to raise the volume of trade to one billion dollars with Belarus and the expansion in the export of fruits and vegetables, medicines and medical textile products, garments, leather and carpets as well as manufacturing, food and chemical industries.

Dr. Hassan pointed to the importance of ensuring medicines, in addition to the needs and requirements of medical and health-sector known for their high quality and take advantage of the Belarusian expertise for the development of electric home appliances industry.

Sharif al -Khatib