DAMASCUS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th December, 2019) Syrian businesses abroad want to invest in rebuilding their home country, President Bashar Assad told Italy's Rai24 news channel, adding sanctions were in the way.
"The Syrian people around the world have a lot of money, and they want to come and build their country," he said in the interview that was published in full on Monday by Syria's state news agency Sana.
He denied claims that Syria had a money problem. He said Syrian and foreign business people sought to invest in his country but international sanctions were stopping them from coming and working in Syria.
"In spite of that, some foreign companies have started finding ways to evade these sanctions and we have started planning," Assad admitted, adding the reconstruction would be slow.
Eight years of fighting, topped by the rise of an international terror group, has left the country in tatters. Russia has been calling on global donors to help rebuild public infrastructure in order to encourage millions of Syrian refugees to come back.
