In November there will be a meeting of the intergovernmental Commission on trade-economic cooperation between Russia and Syria. This was stated by Minister of foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov following talks with Iranian and Syrian counterparts.
Economics turns into politics
As told in conversation with the journalist BAFS “the Economy today” member of the Board of the Association of political experts and consultants, associate Professor of political theory at MGIMO Kirill Koktysh, Russia can obtain large dividends, taking an active part in the restoration of the embattled Syrian economy. In addition to financial profit a tight economic cooperation bodes well as the increasing political presence of Russia in the Syrian region, which is extremely important, given our political interests in the middle East.
“The fact that now all the cooperation between our countries will be reduced to the recovery of the Syrian economy, and it is clear that the participation in it of Russia will determine the Pro-Russian orientation of the Syrian economy. As the recovery in the first place will take place with the participation of Russian corporations, this will lead to increased Russian presence and, accordingly, will naturally assume the structural interest of Syria to Russia,” says Kirill Koktysh.
What does the Russian participation in the reconstruction of the Syrian economy
According to experts, taking an active part in the restoration of the Syrian economy, Russia will receive a possibility to develop is absolutely not a busy market and all the associated benefits. Meanwhile, in Syria a lot of opportunities for investment in various sectors of the economy, including in energy and construction sector.
“Russia will get the benefits that you can get out on the market with virtually no competition. And this is the case, given the current situation in Syria. It is quite a lot, so what would the Corporation nor spoken, we can talk about very strong positions in this country. But in Syria there are a lot of interesting things. I think such a cooperation could take place in the energy sector, and in construction, and in several other sectors”, – says Kirill Koktysh.
Note that the main directions of economic cooperation between Russia and Syria were defined in the late 1990-ies. According to experts, the parties may be interested in the joint development of energy, transport, irrigation, peaceful use of nuclear energy. Note that now Russia is in the stage of negotiating the conclusion of agreements on the construction of nuclear power plants in Egypt and Turkey.
Economic cooperation between Russia and Syria, of course, closely linked to the closeness of our political interests and joint work in the fight against global terrorism. From September 2015 videoconferencing at the request of President Bashar al-Assad participate in anti-terrorist operation to liberate Syria from the militants of banned terrorist group “Islamic state” and other radical Islamic obyedinenie.
