Syrian Finance Minister: Foreign investors welcome after lifting of US sanctions

(Patria) - Syrian Finance Minister Jisr Barnieh invited global investors to do business with Syria after US President Donald Trump's surprise announcement that he would lift all Washington sanctions on that country.

"Syria today is a land of opportunity, with enormous potential in every sector - from agriculture to oil, tourism, infrastructure and transport," Barnieh said in an interview with Reuters in Damascus.

"We envision a central role for the private sector in the new Syrian economy. The Ministry of Finance's role is not to spend indiscriminately or to act as a regulator over businesses, but to enable and support growth."

The wall in front of his office still bore the faded outline of one of the many posters of former strongman Bashar al-Assad that hung in Syrian public buildings before being overthrown by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) last year.

Changes in Syria have been rapid since Assad fled to Russia in December last year. Former rebel commander Ahmed al-Sharaa was appointed president, formed a government, and quickly managed to gain Gulf support and lift most European sanctions.

The stunning turn of events was crowned by a meeting between Sharaa and Trump in Riyadh on Wednesday following Trump's promise to lift US sanctions imposed on Syria under the Assad family's rule, measures widely seen as the biggest external obstacle to the country's economic recovery. Trump did not set a timeframe for their lifting.

"One of the most critical outcomes of lifting sanctions would be Syria's reintegration into the global financial system," he said.

"This would allow us to restore financial flows and attract investment, which is urgently needed in all sectors," he said, adding that Syrian authorities had already seen strong interest from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, and several European Union countries, among others.

He says the government is undertaking a comprehensive review of public finance management, including reforms of the tax, customs, and banking systems - part of a broader effort to modernize an economy long burdened by an oversized public sector.

He said lifting sanctions would only be the first step in a multi-year recovery for a country devastated by fourteen years of war. "Lifting sanctions is not the final chapter," he said.

"We cannot afford to be complacent. We are entering a new phase that requires real results and visible progress on the ground."