DAMASCUS: Qatar is ready to invest in Syria’s energy sector and ports, the de facto Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa said after meeting a senior Qatari official in Damascus on Monday, as his new Islamist-led administration widened contacts with Arab states.
Sharaa also received Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi, the first Arab foreign minister to visit Damascus since the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) toppled Bashar al-Assad two weeks ago. Safadi said Jordan was ready to help Syria rebuild.
The meetings further widen the diplomatic contacts of the new administration established after Sharaa’s HTS, a former Al Qaeda affiliate, led a decisive rebel offensive that overthrew Assad after more than 13 years of war.
The end of Assad’s rule has upended the geopolitics of the Middle East, dealing a major blow to his ally Iran and paving the way for other states to build new ties to a country at the crossroads of the region.
Turkey, which long backed the Syrian opposition, was the first state to send its foreign minister to Damascus.
Qatar’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Mohammed Al-Khulaifi flew into Damascus on Monday aboard the first Qatar Airways flight to land there since Assad was toppled.
Sharaa, speaking to reporters as he stood next to Khulaifi, said that they had discussed the challenges of the coming period, and that he had invited Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani to visit Syria.
“The Qatari side expressed its readiness for wide investments in Syria in many sectors, chief amongst them the energy sector in which they have great experience ... as well as the ports and airports,” Sharaa said.
Khulaifi said Qatar, a wealthy Gulf emirate and the world’s third largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), would continue to “stand alongside our brothers in Syria at this time more than any other time”.
“Syria and its people need support during this crucial phase which requires the concerted efforts of everyone, especially concerning the lifting of sanctions and the upcoming developmental projects,” he said.
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