Al-Mikdad: Economic dimension is a priority in diplomatic missions’ work

Damascus, (ST) – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates yesterday continued the work of the regular meeting of Syrian ambassadors and heads of diplomatic missions abroad for the second day.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates in the caretaker government Faisal Al-Mikdad stressed the utmost importance of economic diplomacy, and the priority of the economic dimension in embassies and diplomatic missions, and in the daily work of the ministry, which sometimes precedes political work.

For his part, the Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade in the caretaker government Mohammad Samer Al-Khalil stated that economic diplomacy today is a priority and an important matter, whether in terms of investment work, commercial work, or agreements that could be beneficial to Syria and Syrian exporters at the level of the private and public sectors.

He added: The economic information received from Syrian diplomatic missions abroad, which includes sufficient analyses, is very useful because it contains daily details about the countries in which the missions are located.

Minister Khalil stressed that the sanctions and coercive measures that Syria has been subjected to affected its economic growth, the exchange rate amd exports, and led to the closure of border crossings, the fight against Syrian products, the lack of financial transfer channels, and problems related to shipping companies and insurance, which led to a decline in exports, which are the most important sources of foreign currency.

He pointed out that hope is pinned on economic diplomacy with regard to investment through communication with Syrian communities and companies abroad, as the missions were provided through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the materials available for export, their quantities and seasons.

Minister Khalil added that the subject of barter is available for any material prepared for export.

In turn, the Minister of Electricity in the caretaker government Ghassan Al-Zamel affirmed that the electricity sector and the electrical energy system were severely damaged during the terrorist war on Syria, which is considered the engine of sustainable development in Syria and in all countries of the world.

Al-Zamel indicated that the terrorist organizations targeted this system, which put no less than 50 percent of all components of the electrical network out of service, in addition to the large amount of damage that this system was exposed to, and the large sums that were required to rehabilitate it. He added that as a result of the terrorist war against Syria, we lost more than 300 martyrs in the electricity sector.

Minister Al-Zamel pointed to the loss at the level of the national economy, as there are industrial and commercial facilities that were not supplied with electricity, and thus there are losses in these sectors amounting to 200 billion, and these numbers require concerted efforts and great governmental support to bring the system to an appropriate level.

Commenting on the speech of the Minister of Electricity, Minister Al-Mikdad stressed that the goal of the meeting with Minister Al-Zamel was to explain the important things that we might need in the process of returning Syria to what it was before, when it was at the forefront of the countries of the region in all fields.

Al-Mikdad pointed out that those who created the terrorists are the ones who contributed to the destruction of all the achievements that Syria has made with the blood and sweat of its sons. He stressed that the destruction was deliberate and was carried out by hands directed to destroy these capabilities.

In a statement to reporters, Minister Al-Khalil stressed that economic diplomacy is an important gateway to strengthening economic relations with countries on the commercial level and the movement of goods, import and export, and on the level of promoting investment opportunities and concluding agreements and memoranda of understanding with those countries.

In a similar statement, the Minister of Electricity stressed the importance of meeting with ambassadors and heads of diplomatic missions to convey the suffering in the electricity sector as a result of the unjust siege imposed on Syria, as well as to encourage investment in the field of electrical energy and work on developing the electrical system, securing some requirements and facilitating agreement with foreign companies.

Raghda Sawas