RIYADH: Syria has attracted overseas investment totaling around $28 billion so far this year, President Ahmad Al-Sharaa said on Wednesday at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh.
Sharaa said in a session attended by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that Syrian laws have been amended to allow foreign investors to transfer funds out of the country.
“We want to rebuild Syria via investments,” Al-Sharaa said, adding the world can benefit from it as a “trade corridor.”
Al-Sharaa led opposition fighters to overthrow Bashar Al-Assad late last year, bringing an end to 14 years of civil war.
Al-Sharaa has conducted a series of foreign trips as his transitional government seeks to re-establish Syria’s ties with world powers that shunned Damascus during Assad’s rule.
In May, Riyadh hosted a historic meeting between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Al-Sharaa and US President Donald Trump, who praised Al-Sharaa and said Washington would lift all sanctions on Syria to help give the country a chance to rebuild.
Despite Trump’s pledge and widespread exemptions now granted to Syria, the toughest sanctions — known as the Caesar sanctions — require a repeal from the US Congress.
US lawmakers have been divided on the issue, but are expected to make a decision by the end of the year.
While Syria has already drawn international interest in major development projects, a full repeal is expected to trigger increased appetite for investments.
In August, Syria signed 12 investment deals worth $14 billion, including infrastructure, transportation and real estate projects aimed at reviving the war-damaged economy.
A World Bank report predicted the cost of Syria’s reconstruction at $216 billion, saying the figure was a “conservative best estimate.”
Syria nets $28bn in investments this year, president tells FII
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Syria nets $28bn in investments this year, president tells FII
- Ahmad Al-Sharaa tells session in Riyadh he wants to rebuild Syria by investments
- Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attended the dialogue session
Israeli military says it will pursue every successor of Iran’s Khamenei
- The clerical body that will choose Iran’s next supreme leader has more or less reached a majority consensus
- Minor disagreement over whether their final decision must follow an in-person meeting or instead be issued
The Israeli military warned it would continue pursuing every successor of Iran’s next supreme leader.
In a post on X in Farsi, the Israeli military also warned it would pursue every person who seeks to appoint a successor for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, referring to the clerical body charged with choosing the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader.
The clerical body that will choose Iran’s next supreme leader, succeeding the slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has more or less reached a majority consensus, Assembly of Experts member Ayatollah Mohammadmehdi Mirbaqeri said on Sunday.
The Mehr news agency quoted him as saying “some obstacles” still needed to be resolved regarding the process.
On Saturday, a senior cleric in the Assembly of Experts said its members would meet “within one day” to choose the leader.
Iranian media said the group had a minor disagreement over whether their final decision must follow an in-person meeting or instead be issued without adhering to this formality.
Ayatollah Mohsen Heidari Alekasir, another member of the Assembly of Experts, said in a video released by Nournews on Sunday that an in-person meeting by the assembly for a final vote was not possible under current conditions.
He said a candidate had been picked, based on the late supreme leader’s advice that Iran’s top leader should “be hated by the enemy” instead of praised by it.
“Even the Great Satan (US) has mentioned his name,” Heidari Alekasir said of the chosen successor, days after US President Donald Trump said that Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba, was an “unacceptable” choice for him.
