By Maya Gebeily
BEIRUT, July 16 (Reuters) – Lebanon and Syria will in the coming months begin revising decades-old trade agreements to revive their economic relationship following the ouster of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in 2024, Lebanon’s economy minister told Reuters on Thursday.
Amer Bisat, who said the countries could eventually aim for a larger bilateral trade deal, spoke a day after holding talks with his Syrian counterpart in Damascus.
The two countries have been undertaking a reset in ties since the end of nearly half a century of Assad family rule that saw Syrian troops stationed in Lebanon for almost 30 years.
“That economic relationship needed to be reset, and it has the potential of being the most important bilateral relationship for both countries,” Bisat said.
Lebanon shares a 375-kilometre (230-mile) border with Syria to its north and east and has relied on Syrian land routes to truck exports to Jordan and the Gulf.
Syrian exporters have also used Lebanon as a primary export corridor, particularly during the 14-year war that ended with Assad’s ouster.
At its peak, total trade between the two countries was just under $800 million. Last year, trade volume was around $250 million, according to Bisat, who said the relationship “should be measured in the billions” instead.
As a first step, a committee set up in early July would review more than 40 pacts and memoranda of understanding agreed with Assad-era Syria that covered investment frameworks, visa and tax regimes and other dimensions of Syrian-Lebanese trade.
Bisat said the review could take several months but that a bigger trade deal could take longer.
Such a deal would need to address logistical hurdles to land transport and tackle tariffs that are “not uniform,” Bisat said. “Lebanese exporters pay an export tariff and the Syrians don’t,” he added.
(Reporting by Maya Gebeily, editing by Andrei Khalip)
Comments