Syrian Finance Minister: Lifting American sanctions on Syria will elevate the industry and financial sector

Syrian Finance Minister, Mohammad Yaser Barnieh, described the recent American steps towards Syria as "two missions", expecting that "these measures will have positive effects on the financial and banking sector and on the Syrian industry".

This came in a post by Minister Barnieh on his official "Facebook" page, where he clarified the nature of these measures, indicating that "the first step involves the U.S. Treasury Department canceling the decisions and sanctions imposed by previous American presidents since 2004 due to the state of emergency imposed on Syria at that time". He emphasized that "this step comes in implementation of the previous decision by President Donald Trump, who lifted the state of emergency on Syria".

As for the second step, the minister indicated that it "consists of the U.S. Department of Commerce lifting restrictions on American exports or re-exports to Syria of American products, services, and technologies (excluding military ones) and accelerating and facilitating the granting of licenses".

Minister Barnieh pointed out the great importance of these steps, saying: "Access to American technology is extremely impactful, as this technology is involved in most industries and software, and thus it will have wide positive effects that elevate the Syrian industry and the Syrian financial and banking sector by benefiting from modern financial technologies that institutions and financial and banking systems in Syria need".

He confirmed the continuation of "communication between the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Syria in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, and with the U.S. Treasury Department", expressing that they "feel a commitment from them to support the reforms that Syria is undertaking in the financial and banking sector, and in public finance".

It is noteworthy that these developments come after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on June 30, which "ends the sanctions program imposed on Syria", thus ending the "national state of emergency" that was imposed on Damascus in 2004 and renewed annually since then, which led to comprehensive sanctions affecting vital institutions, most notably the Central Bank of Syria, and five other executive orders that formed the basis for the sanctions program were also canceled.

In parallel, the Office of Industry and Security in the U.S. Department of Commerce announced a "new regulatory rule that eases licensing requirements for civil exports to Syria".