The Syrian Future Movement welcomes the launch of the 63rd Damascus International Fair, with the broad participation of nearly a thousand entities representing approximately sixty countries. This economic event carries implications that extend far beyond the fair itself, signaling Syria’s gradual return to its regional and international economic and commercial sphere.
We in the Syrian Future Movement view the Damascus International Fair as an integral part of our national economic heritage, a historical platform whose name has been synonymous for decades with Damascus’s commercial prominence and Syria’s role as a link between Eastern and Western markets.
Today, after years of war, isolation, sanctions, and economic contraction, the 63rd edition takes on a different significance. It comes at a time when Syria needs to transition from a crisis management economy to one of construction, production, investment, and openness to the world.
While the Syrian Future Movement welcomes this Arab, regional, and international presence, we emphasize that the success of the Damascus International Fair should not be measured solely by the number of participating countries, pavilions, and visitors. Rather, it should be measured by the extent to which, after the fair’s conclusion, factories become operational, investments are implemented, contracts are finalized, markets open to Syrian products, and job opportunities are created for Syrians.
From this standpoint, the Syrian Future Movement affirms the following:
First: We call for transforming the Damascus International Fair from a seasonal economic event into a permanent platform for Syrian economic diplomacy, integrating the efforts of the government, the private sector, chambers of commerce and industry, and Syrian investors both inside and outside the country.
Second: We believe it is essential to establish a formal mechanism for monitoring agreements, memoranda of understanding, and investment opportunities arising from the fair, and to publish the results regularly and transparently, so that Syrians can see what has been achieved on the ground.
Third: We call for prioritizing productive investments that create jobs, transfer technology and expertise, and support industry, agriculture, energy, and infrastructure, and not reducing economic openness to imports, trade, and consumption.
Fourth: We emphasize the necessity of protecting Syrian products, industries, and crafts, and giving them a genuine space in new markets and partnerships. The required economic openness must strengthen the national economy, not turn it into a market for the disposal of others’ products.
Fifth: We call for leveraging the broad international presence at the exhibition to rebuild confidence in the Syrian investment environment through stable legislation, an effective commercial judiciary, property protection, streamlined procedures, combating corruption and monopolies, and ensuring equal opportunities for all investors.
Sixth: We believe that Syrians abroad, businesspeople, experts, and Syrian capital spread across the globe should be at the heart of the economic recovery process, and that genuine bridges should be built to encourage their return to invest and participate in rebuilding their homeland’s economy.
Seventh: We call for capitalizing on Syria’s exceptional geographical location and linking the Damascus International Fair to a more comprehensive strategy for transportation, ports, railways, border crossings, and industrial and logistics zones, thereby restoring Syria’s natural role as a bridge between the Mediterranean, Iraq, the Gulf, Turkey, and regional markets.
The new Syria needs a new economy based on production, competition, transparency, equal opportunities, and the rule of law, placing the Syrian people at the center of the development process.
Hence, we in the Syrian Future Movement view the return of momentum to the Damascus International Fair positively, and we see in the broad international participation an important message that Syria’s economic doors can be reopened to the world.
