In an effort to ease the acute electricity shortage in Syria, Türkiye and Qatar will send electricity-generating ships to that country, Syrian state news agency SANA reported on Jan. 7. The Syrian government can only supply electricity for two to three hours daily in most regions, but states that it hopes to extend this to eight hours within two months. The two ships have a total capacity to produce 800 megawatts of electricity. The U.S. has issued a license for this operation, which provides an exception to the broad U.S. sanctions that it has in place.
The decision to deploy the ships follows the visit of a Turkish delegation earlier this month to discuss the revival of Syria’s energy sector, according to Hurriyet.
Meanwhile Turkish Trade Minister Ömer Bolat held a meeting with Turkish business people, industrialists’ chambers and non-governmental organizations in economy and trade, in order to discuss the reconstruction of Syria and strengthen its economy and trade, the Trade Ministry said on Jan. 7. This is part of Türkiye’s effort to cooperate with Syria to create a politically and economically stable environment for the coming period, the minister said.
