Syria calls on businessmen to return to help in reconstruction

At a time when the official Syrian delegation is holding negotiations with the opposition coalition to reach a political solution to the crunching crisis in the country, the government works to prepare suitable climates for Syrian businessmen to return to the country to perk up the devastating economy. The local Syria Steps economic website said that a positive atmosphere has been clearly shown by the Syrian private sector's businessmen, who have shown increasing desire to return to their facilities and factories either for reconstructing or re-opening them. These positive indicators emerged during the recent meeting that combined more than 600 industrialists from the northern city of Aleppo, Syria's economic capital, which was held in Lebanon and drew investments worth tens of billions of U.S. dollars. Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi said on Monday that the government gives priority to the investment and industrial sectors to carry out a genuine reform project. Al-Halqi, meeting a delegation of Egypt-based Syrian businessmen, said that the current stage requires each Syrian, national and honest businessman to help reconstruct the homeland and join the government and national sectors to draw the economic, developmental and strategic polices. Halqi said that the successive meetings of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with the government centered on the need of propping up the private sector again. He indicated that invitations sent to businessmen who have left the country to call on them to return and work in it, stressing that the government provides all facilities to help businessmen abroad to resettle their investments and projects in Syria and contribute to the national economy, "which seemed to recover, despite the significant damage it has suffered as a result of the systematic economic war and the U.S. and EU economic sanctions." A delegation of Syrian industrialists in Egypt held recently a series of meetings in Damascus with Syrian officials to explore ways of returning to the country. The spiraling violence in the northern province of Aleppo has blocked economic activities in the city, forcing many industrialists to shut down their businesses or flee the country amid reports that hundreds of factories were looted, damaged or burned. Syria's economic indicators have slightly improved after months of recession. The pound preserves a stable exchange rate of about 150 pounds per dollar.