Mrs. Asma Al-Assad, Dashti discuss Syria’s vision on small and micro-sized entreprises

First Lady, Mrs. Asma Al-Assad, on Monday received Rola Dashti, the UN Under Secretary General and the Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), who is on an official visit to Syria to discuss cooperation between ESCWA and concerned Syrian institutions to improve the circumstances of the small, medium and micro-sized enterprises, in addition to the challenges facing this sector.

Mrs. Asma explained Syria’s vision on small projects as being among the factors that support economic and social development, and as being an effective option to face the repercussions of the war and the challenges resulted from the earthquake that hit Syria last month.

She clarified that this vision has been reflected through the Syrian state’s strategic decision to make these projects a basic part of national economic policies constantly and in an integrated way with the aim of encouraging this kind of economy through securing suitable environment in terms of laws and institutions.

For her part, Dashti briefed Mrs. Asma on the commission’s work in enhancing development, encouraging economic activities and supporting cooperation among ESCWA’s Arab number states

She said that the spirit of  entrepreneurship is abundant in Arab societies and the governments are responsible for preparing the ground for leading projects and securing elements of success and development.

“If the efforts being exerted in this respect are a success and if the shadow economy can be restructured within the formal economy, we will be able to produce a leading example that can be followed by other Arab countries,” Dashti added.

Hamda Mustafa