Saudi Arabia and Qatar to pay Syria’s debts on the World Bank

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Saudi Arabia and Qatar have said that they will solve the outstanding debt of Syria with the World Bank, in a step that will help funding the country’s access to conflicts for post -war reconstruction and public sector salaries.

Financing about $ 15 million will be the first financial assistance in Syria since Saudi Arabia since then Last year’s fall of Bashar al-Assad’s Regime, a government that the kingdom had opposed carefully.

“This commitment will open the way for the World Bank group to resume support and operations in Syria after a suspension of more than 14 years,” the two countries said in a joint statement on Sunday during the spring meetings in Washington of the World Bank and the IMF.

The economy of Syria has been destroyed by more than a decade of war and broad sanctions, presenting a formid challenge for the new government led by ancient rebels of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

Saudi Arabia and its golf neighbors have increased humanitarian aid in Syria in recent months, but the debt settlement plan will be the first Saudi funding for the country, as Riyadh moves to increase his influence, including welcoming the Syrian leader on his first foreign trip in February.

Mohammed Al-Jjean, Minister of the Kingdom, on Friday emphasized the need to carefully move in Syria due to sanctions and other factors, but said that the international community should do more to support the region’s warlike countries, including Yemen, Sudan, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.

“They need to know that the international community … will remain by their side,” he said.

The governor and minister of the Central Bank of Syria attended the World Bank meetings and the IMF in Washington for the first time in more than two decades.

It was the first visit of the new Syria government to the United States, as the Assad regime was deployed in December after a lightning offensive for opposition forces. Since then, the Syria government has sought to reconstruct the country’s diplomatic bonds with the regional and world powers, as well as international financial institutions.

IMF and World Bank officials emphasized the need for credible economic data to the Syrian authorities and to rebuild the Central Bank.