The International Monetary Fund announces its readiness to support Syria following the resumption of official communication.

Jihad Azour, Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund, revealed official communication between the Syrian government and the Fund, including several meetings, confirming the Fund's readiness to support Syria.

This was during an interview with the Jordanian channel "Al-Mamlaka," where Azour mentioned Syria's participation in the Fund's meetings for the first time in two decades, noting that "Damascus has requested to revive its relationship with the Fund," explaining that the Syrian membership "was not officially frozen, but was almost inactive during the war that began in 2011."

Azour also added that the absence of Syrian economic data in the Fund's latest report "is due to the unavailability of official figures from the Syrian authorities due to the war, and their lack of the necessary technical capabilities to prepare statistics in recent years."

He also confirmed that the Fund's Spring Meetings in Washington included a high-level session discussing the Syrian situation, economic challenges, and ways to enhance cooperation with Damascus in the coming period.

On the other hand, Syrian Finance Minister Mohammad Yasar Burnia announced in a previous statement the appointment of Ron van Rooden as head of the Fund's mission to Syria, the first of its kind since the crisis erupted 14 years ago.

Burnia described this step as "paving the way for constructive dialogue between the Fund and Syria, with a common goal of boosting economic recovery and improving the living standards of the Syrian people."

In a related context, a joint statement issued by Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, and World Bank Group President David Malpass, affirmed "the collective commitment to support the Syrian government's efforts to achieve recovery and development," during a high-level meeting held on the sidelines of the Spring Meetings in Washington.