A Syrian delegation led by Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade Mohammad Samer Al-Khalil on Friday visited the pavilions of India and the Vatican at Expo 2020 Dubai in the UAE and held several important meetings.
The delegation also comprised Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriate Ayman Soussan and the Syrian Ambassador to the UAE Ghassan Abbas.
At the Indian pavilion, members of the Syrian delegation met with the pavilion’s director who briefed the delegation of the exhibited Indian industrial products and technologies, expressing her country’s willingness to enhance cooperation with Syria.
On his part, Al-Khalil hailed the strong economic ties between Syria and India, pointing out that India is among Syria’s top three trade partners.
The value of trade exchange between the two sides is estimated at 200 million USD, he clarified.
“Work is underway to reactivate cooperation between the businessmen of both countries and to resume relations with a number of Indian investment companies, especially the banks with which Syria has previously cooperated in financing a number of projects,” Al-Khalil added.
At the Vatican’s Pavilion, the Syrian delegation met the Deputy Commissioner-General of the Pavilion, Thomas Travney who introduced the exhibits that included among many important things three historical manuscripts which are more than 500-year-old.
On his part, Al-Khalil said that Syria is the cradle of religions from which Christianity started and spread to the world, stressing that Syria has always been a symbol of coexistence among different religions, civilizations and cultures.
Hamda Mustafa