Syria is currently witnessing a sensitive economic phase that coincides with the beginning of the post-liberation era from the Assad regime. This stage has started to take shape through efforts to rebuild the state’s economic and financial institutions on new foundations of transparency, accountability, and responsibility.
In this context, a worrying phenomenon has emerged — the sale of investment contracts and memoranda of understanding, or signing them without real financial capacity or implementation ability, only to resell or trade them later in the market. Such practices harm the national economy and distort the emerging investment environment in the country.
This issue was among the most prominent topics discussed by the Syrian Minister of Economy with representatives of the American Chamber of Commerce in Washington during his recent visit to the United States. The discussions addressed the investment contracts signed in past years and the necessity of legally and financially regulating them to ensure they serve as tools for genuine development — not as means for exploitation, money laundering, or influence trading.
These talks come within the framework of broader efforts led by the Syrian government in cooperation with the World Bank and the U.S. Federal Reserve, as a joint technical delegation is expected to arrive in Damascus in the coming weeks. The mission aims to help rebuild Syria’s banking and financial infrastructure after more than five decades of isolation from the international financial system.
The delegation’s work will also include assessing transparency standards, anti–money laundering measures, and reviewing investment contracts signed during the transitional period to ensure their legality, seriousness, and compliance with financial and regulatory requirements.
These developments mark the beginning of a new phase of responsible economic openness, based on professional and institutional foundations that will enable Syria’s gradual reintegration into the global financial system and attract serious investors from the Arab and international business communities — all under strict financial oversight to protect public funds and ensure integrity in transactions.
From this standpoint, the Arab Businessmen Forum – ISNAD values these reformist steps and considers them a historic opportunity to rebuild trust between Syria and the regional and international business community, and to establish a modern investment environment managed according to global standards of transparency, accountability, and governance.
In conclusion, regulating and reviewing contracts does not mean hindering investment — rather, it lays the foundation for a sound economy built on integrity, not influence; on real implementation, not slogans.
This stage is a true test of the seriousness of economic actors in contributing to the construction of a new Syria — a state of institutions, not individuals; of transparency, not obscurity; of work, not rhetoric.
And Allah is the source of success.
With sincere appreciation,
Tarek Badir Al-Din Al-Sayed
Chairman of the Arab Businessmen Forum – ISNAD