In light of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s announcement of the signing of 47 investment memoranda of understanding with Syrian authorities, worth more than $6.4 billion, and in the context of the Saudi-Syrian Investment Forum in Riyadh, the Syrian Future Movement views this step as a pivotal moment requiring a responsible national discourse that transforms these agreements from temporary projects into a gateway to establishing a new economy that transcends the logic of political rents and rebuilds trust between the state, society, and investors.
The Syrian Future Movement believes that the Syrian economy, exhausted by decades of authoritarianism and war, cannot be reformed through individual memoranda or top-down investments. Rather, it requires a new foundational economic contract based on four pillars: distributive justice, institutional transparency, community participation, and local empowerment.
Hence, the Syrian Future Movement appreciates the openness of Gulf partners to investing in Syria and emphasizes the need to:
- Establishing a transitional legal framework for investment that guarantees investor rights and protects Syria’s national interest through clear laws, transparent dispute resolution mechanisms, and independent institutional oversight, as called for in the Investment Law.
- Linking investments to non-rent-based productive sectors creates direct job opportunities and restores local capabilities, particularly in renewable energy, smart agriculture, and technical and educational services.
- Involving local councils and civil society actors in the design and implementation of investment projects, thus restoring participatory governance and preventing the replication of rentier centralization.
- Establishing a transparent, institutionally managed economic information platform that allows the public and investors to understand the size, terms, and economic returns of contracts.
The Syrian Future Movement calls on all national forces and economic institutions, both at home and abroad, not to treat these agreements as mere media figures, but rather as an opportunity to rebuild the Syrian economy on new foundations that favor a productive society and redefine the relationship between the state, the market, and investors.
The Syrian Future Movement is committed to working with all national and regional parties to transform this phase into a foundation, not a restoration, and a new contract, not a deal. It emphasizes that the economy is the gateway to sustainable legitimacy and the foundation without which the state cannot be restored.
Economic Bureau
Political Bureau
Statement
