SYRIA: Al-Assad opens two factories in a boost to economic cooperation between Syria and Iran

Record ID: 278789

  • Title: SYRIA: Al-Assad opens two factories in a boost to economic cooperation between Syria and Iran
  • Date: 14th December 2007
  • Summary: (MER2) HOMS, SYRIA (DECEMBER 13, 2007) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF SAIPA CAR FACTORY SIGN SAYING "A GIFT TO A SISTER COUNTRY". SYRIAN PRESIDENT BASHAR AL-ASSAD OPENING FACTORY. SYRIAN AND IRANIAN FLAGS. AL ASSAD LOOKING AT THE MANUFACTURING PROCESS. FIRST PRODUCTION CAR WRAPPED IN SYRIAN AND IRANIAN FLAGS. AL ASSAD DRIVING THE FIRST CAR MANUFACTURED IN THE FACTORY. VARIOUS OF TH
  • Embargoed: 29th December 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Entertainment,Industry
  • Reuters ID: LVA4BK01TBLHJODZW630ZPH0YWYR
  • Story Text: Two Iranian factories opened in Syria on Thursday (December 13) in a boost to business and political links between the two countries.
    President Bashar al-Assad and Iranian Industry Minister Aliakbar Mehrabian opened a $50 million Saipa vehicle assembly plant near the city of Homs and a 1.1 million tonne a year cement factory developed by Ehdasse Sanat Corporation on the outskirts of Hamah.
    Syria has come under pressure from Washington and pro-U.S. Arab governments to disengage from Iran which is at odds with the United States over its nuclear programme. Damascus has also incurred U.S. wrath for its role in Lebanon and Iraq.
    Assad sent representatives to last month's Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, despite Iranian reservations. He recently dispatched an envoy to Tehran to assure Iranian officials that their alliance remained intact.
    In March, Assad opened a factory for Iran's Khodro, the Middle East's biggest car maker, in an industrial city north of Damascus. Khodro produces Peugeot models and Renault Logans in Iran.
    Syrian officials had hoped to attract billions of dollars in Iranian investment, but capital inflow has been slow.
    An initial deal signed last year between the government and Iranian company Amiran to manage public transport and import 5,000 Volvo and Mercedes buses produced in Iran went nowhere.
    Facing a shortage of cement and shoddy consumer goods, the Syrian government has eased restrictions on imports and private investment in recent years after decades of nationalisation and state control under the ruling Baath Party.
    The alliance between Syria's secular leadership and the Islamic Republic dates back to the 1980-1988 war between Iran and Iraq. Unlike the rest of the Arab Middle East, Syria did not back Iraq in the war.
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