Business in Syria, Damascus

The objectives of the subject “Foreign Trade and Business in the Syrian Arab Republic” are the following:

1. To analyse the Syrian Economy and Foreign Trade (Import, Export, FDI)
2. To know the business opportunities in the Syrian Arab Republic
3. To explore the Syrian trade relations with the country of the student

Syrian Preferential Access and Free Trade Agreements

1. Syria and the Arab Economic Area
2. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Emirates, Jordan, Iran...
3. Turkey-Syria Free Trade Agreement
4. Greater Arab Free-Trade Area (GAFTA)
5. Islamic Trade Preferential System (TPS-OIC)
6. Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA)
7. Syria-European Union:
   1. European Neighbourhood Policy
   2. Euro-Mediterranean Partnership

Trade Facilitation Programs

1. World Trade Organisation (WTO) (in process of accession)
2. World Customs Organisation (WCO)
   1. Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC)
3. International Rail Transport Committee (CIT)
4. Convention on the Carriage of Goods by Sea (Hamburg Rules, UN)
5. International Road Transport Union (IRU)
   1. TIR Convention
   2. Guidelines on Safe Load Securing for Road Transport
6. Convention concerning International Carriage by Rail (COTIF)
7. Uniform Rules concerning the Contract of International Carriage of Goods by Rail (CIM, CIT)
8. International Bureau of Containers and Intermodal Transport (BIC)
9. International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO, Chicago Convention)
10. International Maritime Organisation (IMO) - not a member

Islamic Organisations

1. Arab League (LAS)
2. Summit of South American-Arab Countries (ASPA)
3. Asia-Middle East Dialogue (AMED)
4. Islamic Development Bank (IsDB)
5. Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA)
6. Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)
7. Arab Development Funds
8. Afro-Arab Cooperation
9. Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA)
10. Arab Trade Financing Programme (ATFP)

Global Organisations

1. United Nations (UN)
   1. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
   2. International Trade Centre (INTRACEN)
   3. World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)
2. World Bank (WB)
3. World Trade Organisation (WTO)
4. International Monetary Fund (IMF)

The Syrian Arab Republic.

1. Syrian Population: 17 million people
2. Capital of Syria: Damascus
3. Syrian largest city: Aleppo
4. Arabic is the language of 90% of the population and the official language of Syria
5. The Syrian Arab Republic shares borders with Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, and Lebanon
6. Area of Syria: 185,180 square kilometres

Religion in Syria.

1. 70% of the Syrian are Muslims Sunni, 15% Shiites and 10% are Christians
2. The main school of Islamic Jurisprudence is the Hanafi

Syria belongs to the Arab Economic Area (Islamic Civilisation).

Syrian Economy

Important Note: The Arab region is undergoing deep changes, many countries are changing rapidly, some to more open economies, and others not. In the case of Syria, the civil war situation makes it extremely complex to do business in Syria. Furthermore, it is hard to reflect these socio-political changes on the course content.

1. Syrian Petroleum industry accounted for 23% of the Syrian GDP.
2. Syrian manufacturing sector accounts for only 6% of the GDP, employing 11% of the population
3. In a medium and long-term (beyond petroleum and gas sector) could open up opportunities for the foreign direct investment (FDI) in the food sector
4. In the Syrian Arab Republic products must be labelled indicating the country of origin. L
5. Labelling: bilingual (Arabic and English), especially for consumer goods is advised
6. Currency of Syria: Syrian Pound (SYP)

Syrian Foreign Trade

1. Top suppliers of the Syrian Arab Republic: Italy, China, Russia, Germany, France, Turkey, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, and the United States
2. Top Export Markets of the Syrian Arab Republic: Germany, Italy, France, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Turkey
3. The Syrian Arab Republic is not a member of the World Trade Organisation.
4. The import duties are very high

Syrian Regional Institutions and Trade Agreements.

Syria has Trade Agreements with Saudi Arabia (1972), Egypt (1990), Kuwait (1991), Lebanon (1998), the United Arab Emirates (2000), Qatar (2000), Iraq (2001), and Jordan (2002). The trade agreement with Turkey will lead to a Free-Trade Area.