In an interview with Sputnik, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stressed that his visit to Moscow, and his March 15 talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, will pave the way for a new phase in the relations between the two countries, particularly in the economic realm. The meeting of the joint committee, led by the two Presidents and made up of senior ministers of both sides, was focused on investment projects, Assad reported. The agreement to be signed in the coming weeks “is directed towards 40 specific investment projects in the fields of energy, i.e. electricity and oil, in the field of transportation, in the field of housing, in the industrial fields, in many other different fields, but with precisely defined projects, and also mechanisms have been added to them to follow up and make these projects successful,” Assad said. “So, from an economic point of view, it is a new progress in the relations, so as you said at the beginning, the delegation was a large delegation because work on this agreement took years, not months, but intensified work has been in recent months.”
As for recovery from the earthquake disaster, Assad said this is now focused on reconstruction, in which Russia has a large role to play. “I conveyed my thanks to President Putin and the Russian government for their assistance, because the Russian government rushed from the first hours to help Syria, and the Russian army participated in the rescue operations, and this aid is still continuing, but there is another side of the support related to the earthquake, which is related to the reconstruction and return of the displaced to their homes,” he said. “Before we ask for assistance from any party with this vital issue for the next stage, we must put in Syria mechanisms and structures for the reconstruction process, and this is what we are doing.”
