Syrian companies eye global market through debuting trade fair

Damascus, September 5 (IANS): Syrian business representatives and industry experts believe that the country’s first international trade fair is a significant opportunity for local companies to enter global markets.

Expo Syria 2024, which opened on Wednesday at Exhibition City outside Damascus, attracted more than 600 companies from various sectors and attracted more than 3,000 foreign traders and business representatives.

Raed Al-Nouri of Syrian Al-Nouri Food Company told Xinhua news agency that the five-day fair is “a great opportunity for Syria’s reconstruction, especially in terms of expanding exports to neighboring countries.”

Ridwan Debs Wlaban, media director at Columbus Company, expressed confidence in the competitiveness of Syrian goods in international markets, citing their “quality, variety and competitive prices.”

“This exhibition is a gateway to new markets, and Aleppo alone represents more than 50 percent of the textile industry participants, and also significantly involves the chemical, engineering and food sectors,” Mustafa Kawaya, vice president of the Aleppo Chamber of Industry, told Xinhua.

However, some participants raised concerns about the impact of Western sanctions on Syrian businesses. Eyad Mohammed, head of the Export Committee at the Syrian Federation of Agricultural Chambers, noted that Syria’s annual export revenues have fallen from eight billion U.S. dollars to one billion dollars due to sanctions.

“The sanctions target transportation, bank transfers and the cost of production components, which makes it difficult for Syrian products to compete on global markets,” he said.