Syria’s president pitched his country to the titans gathered at Saudi Arabia’s flagship financial event on Wednesday, touting it as a trade corridor that is ripe for even more than the $28 billion in foreign investment he said it had attracted this year.
“We chose the path of reconstruction through investment; we did not choose the path of rebuilding Syria through aid and assistance,” Ahmed al-Sharaa said on Wednesday at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh.
"We don't want Syria to be a burden for anyone. We want to build Syria ourselves."
The new Syrian president is meeting with global figures in Riyadh - including FIFA president Gianni Infantino - and took selfies with admirers as he strolled through the conference hall on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Damascus is seeking even greater investments than wealthy Gulf heavyweights Qatar and Saudi Arabia have already pledged.
A World Bank report predicted the cost of Syria's reconstruction at $216 billion, saying the figure was a "conservative best estimate".
"Syria will become a vital trade corridor for transporting goods. The world is currently facing insecurity in supply chains between East and West, and also in gas supply chains to Europe," Sharaa said.
He assured potential investors that Syria's laws had been amended so they could repatriate most of their capital and profits.
DECISION ON US SANCTIONS EXPECTED BY YEAR-END
A Syrian delegation including its economy, finance and telecoms ministers arrived in Riyadh on Monday afternoon.
Saudi Arabia pledged more than $6 billion in investments for Syria in July, including a $2.93 billion for real estate and infrastructure projects and about $1.07 billion for the telecommunications and information technology sector.
As Syria's new interim president, Sharaa has conducted a series of foreign trips as his transitional government seeks to re-establish Syria's ties with world powers that shunned Damascus during Assad's rule.
In May, Riyadh hosted a historic meeting between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Sharaa and US President Donald Trump, who praised Sharaa and said Washington would lift all sanctions on Syria to help give the country a chance to rebuild.
Despite Trump's pledge and widespread exemptions now granted to Syria, the toughest sanctions - known as the Caesar sanctions - require a repeal from the US Congress.
US lawmakers have been divided on the issue, but are expected to make a decision by the end of the year.
While Syria has already drawn international interest in major development projects, a full repeal is expected to trigger increased appetite for investments.
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