Syria, Russia Keen to Boost Friendship, Economic Cooperation

The governments of Syria and Russia have listed the issue of boosting friendship and cooperation as a top priority, so both sides work keenly to enhance the bilateral relations.

Within this context, the Economy and Foreign Trade Minister Mohammad Zafer Mihbek and the Russian Ambassador to Damascus Azamat Kulmukhametov met recently to discuss means of expanding Syrian-Russian relations, particularly in the economic, trade and investment domains.

Minister Mihbek, who asserted Syria’s adherence to enhancing economic and trade cooperation between the two countries, highly appreciated the distinguished role played by the businessmen councils and investors of the two countries in consolidating bilateral ties.

Mihbek referred to the procedures that can be adopted in contribution to developing trade and economic relations with Russia in particular and with other countries of the(BRICS) group in general.

He stressed the necessity of establishing a Syriaى-Russian trade zone, taking part in economic exhibitions held in Russia, dealing with the national currencies of friendly countries and establishing permanent trade centers in these countries to promote cooperation.

Mihbek underscored the importance of carrying out Russian industrial and investment projects in Syria , adopting the barter system between Syria and Russia and sparing no effort to implement the agreement signed between the two countries on establishing a joint center for geopolitical, trade, economic, scientific, technical and financial cooperation.

The importance of exchanging visits between Syria and Russia so as to promote joint trade and economic relations was also stressed.

For his part, the Russian Ambassador expressed his country’s desire to consolidate cooperation with Syria in all fields, asserting the importance of the joint Syrian- Russian committee’s meetings in this regard.

 Kulmukhametov underlined both countries’ efforts to sign a free trade agreement between Syria and the states of the Customs Federation (CF) including Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia.

During their meeting, Mihbik and Kulmukhametov also discussed the issue of reactivating the two embassies’ activities mainly adopting a commerce attaché at the Syrian embassy in Moscow in the service of further cooperation.

Rawaa Ghanam