News / Syria / Persian Gulf

Emirati firms attend Damascus trade fair despite US threats

Friday, 30 August 2019 3:52 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 30 August 2019 3:52 PM ]

People visit the stall of Emirati companies at the Damascus Trade Fair, in the Syrian capital, on August 30, 2019. (Photo by AFP)

Emirati companies have flocked to the Damascus International Trade Fair, months after the United Arab Emirates reopened its embassy in the Syrian capital.

Syria’s al-Watan newspaper reported that a delegation of about 40 businessmen from the UAE had arrived in Damascus on Tuesday to participate in the international fair.

A Syrian employee of an Emirati company said late Thursday that it was the first time his firm was participating in the exhibition.

“We came with a high-level delegation from the Emirates led by the Emirati Federation of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry,” he told AFP.

In December last year, the UAE officially reopened its embassy in Damascus, which had been closed soon after anti-government militancy began in Syria in 2011.

That militancy had been supported by many governments opposed to Damascus, including that of the UAE. Political winds shifted partly, however, as the Syrian military and its allies pushed back the militants from almost all of the areas they had overrun in the country.

According to Syria’s official news agency (SANA), some 1,700 companies from more than 30 countries are participating in this year’s trade fair, which kicked off on Wednesday and is set to come to an end on September 6.

This is while the United States has threatened sanctions against the firms attending the fair, which is part of Syrian efforts to rebuild the country after eight years of war.

At the opening of the fair on Wednesday, Syrian Prime Minister Imad Khamis called the US threats part of an “agenda of sabotage and destruction.”

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk