The Cabinet has started a review plan for economic and service projects that were approved during government visits to the governorates in addition to local projects with the aim of resuming economic and development activity in all governorates.

The Cabinet started its plan by reviewing the situation of the projects in the governorates of Damascus, Lattakia, Daraa and Tartous, and decided to restore economic and public activity in the governorates, and to complete government projects whose implementation rate had already reached ninety percent, and to also implement priority projects that were previously initiated as soon as possible.

In its weekly session on May 3, headed by the Prime MinisterEng. Imad Khamis, the Cabinet asked the heads of ministerial committees in the governorates to prepare a list of projects that must be followed up on their implementation in the context of gradually restoring economic activity.

The percentage of the implementation of the medical and aromatic cultivation plan in Homs recorded high figures, as the entire plan was implemented through the cultivation of coriander, anise and fennel crops in addition to cumin.

Eng. Tarif Mansour, Deputy Head  of Homs Agriculture Directorate , said in a statement to SANA that there is a great demand for cultivating medicinal and aromatic plants, notably in Homs Governorate, for several reasons, the most important of which is that these herbs demand less water and can rely only on rain water, as well as its profitable returns and the duration of its agricultural cycle is short and can be integrated with other crops, such as legumes,  indicating that farmers have experience in harvesting these crops in an optimal manner, taking all precautions to prevent corona virus.

Regarding the cultivated areas, Mansour said that 3539 hectares were cultivated  with rain-fed  cumin, which exceeded the plan they had put, as well as with the rain-fed coriander and irrigated fennel in addition to the cultivation of rain-fed and irrigated anise.

In turn, Mwafak Zakaria, head of the marketing office of the Federation of Homs Farmers, said that some aromatic plants have been planted in Homs throughout the ages while some have been newly introduces as a result of the increased demand from farmers during recent years, adding that  and the bulk is planted in the northern countryside of Homs  governorate. He indicated that marketing these herbs is private and the process is done through traders according to supply and demand. It mainly depends on exportation to foreign markets.

Inas Abdulkareem  

HOMS, (ST)- The General Establishment of Syrian Railways continues to carry out its tasks in securing the transportation of goods among Syrian provinces as part of its role in supporting the national economy.

During the first quarter of this year, the Syrian Railways branch in Homs managed to transport 106,215 tons of goods to several Syrian provinces.

The goods included soybean, iron, wheat, corn, sand, stones, fuel and iron rails, Muhsen Mohammad, Director of the Homs Railways, told SANA, pointing out that the transportation process is being done at the minimum cost in accordance with the pricing system adopted by the Ministry of Transport.

Although the health sector in Syria is not directly targeted by economic sanctions, it is indirectly affected by the sanctions imposed on by other sectors, which added to other accumulated damages to this sector during the last decade. This article attempts to highlight the most significant strains on the health sector resulting from sanctions, as well as how the recent global COVID-19 crisis made a bad situation worse. 

Western sanctions on Syria are currently entering their tenth year. Amidst rising geopolitical tensions, three options present themselves; the first is for the total, unconditional lifting of these sanctions, with the aim of helping the Syrian government deal with challenges facing its health care sector, including the growing threat posed by the current coronavirus pandemic. The second option is for these sanctions to remain in full operation; with the United States’ Caesar Act, legislation which tightens the sanctions on Syria, expecting to come into force in June, this option would give rise to the start of a new phase of economic strangulation in the country. The third option, which is currently being deliberated, lies in the partial and conditional lifting of certain sanctions, in a way which guarantees, first and foremost, a humanitarian benefit for the Syrian people.
Whatever direction is taken in the coming period, there is growing consensus that people living inside Syria have borne the brunt of the majority of these sanctions, even if particular individuals or institutions have been the direct target. The Syrian government maintains they are unilateral, unlawful measures, while western governments consider them a way to punish the government and apply political and popular pressure.