New Government Measures to Upgrade Industrial Institutions, Encourage Investment

Damascus, (ST) – The industry sector is the most important engine of the national economy and the largest sectors contributing to GDP and the process of comprehensive development of the value added and an important source of foreign exchange, which makes this sector of great importance to the government in support of producing public institutions to develop their work and increase productivity.

The government adopts a package of new measures to upgrade public industrial institutions according to specific mechanisms of action, supporting the private sector, facilitating transactions of industrialists and simplifying them, granting them loans, encouraging investment in the industrial sector, attracting capital from abroad and resettlement this capital by providing the requirements of establishing industrial projects.

 Developing cities and industrial zones

Ways to support the national industry had a high share of the Cabinet’s discussions during the past session to develop and secure the requirements that help to promote this vital sector. Industry Ministry was demanded to develop cities and industrial zones and to benefit from the outputs of the industrial research centers to modernize the production lines, improve the quality of the products to be competitive locally and externally.

The Ministry of Industry is working on the application of industry science and upgrading it to develop and maintain production lines and product development according to the approved standard specifications, modernize and invest the machines optimally in the highest profitability and economic feasibility.

As part of the ministry’s strategy, it has signed several contracts with a number of ministries and institutions to secure its needs of fabric and textile products worth 8 billion and 480 million Syrian pounds and signed with the Company of Cables in Damascus and a number of contracts with other bodies worth 8 billion and 100 million Syrian pounds.

Assembling the components of 2,000 tractors at competitive prices

In support of the agricultural industries sector, the General Company for the Manufacture and Distribution of Agricultural Machinery assemble components of two thousand tractors at competitive prices, including 1500 tractors with capacity of 65 horsepower and 500 tractors with capacity of 50 horsepower. It was agreed with the Agricultural Cooperative Bank to finance peasants with loans to purchase these tractors, where the bank will finance 60 percent of the value of a tractor and the payment will be in installments over five years while the farmer pays 40 percent of its value directly.

“The number of private industrial establishments in the governorates and industrial cities amounted to 130,983 establishments, while the number of industrial establishments that started to date is 16835 and 49103 craft establishments. The establishments that are rehabilitated are estimated at 3493 industrial establishments and 5579 craft establishments,” according to the Ministry’s data.

These data confirm the beginning of the growth of the production process in the industrial sector, which contributes to the creation of new jobs and the provision of foreign exchange resources and the manufacture of alternative products from the imported ones, which requires the protection of this sector through combatting smuggling of foreign goods which cause great damage to the national economy and the local product.

Sh. Kh.