Syria’s new foreign minister is continuing regional tours aimed at building bridges with neighbours, arriving in Qatar’s capital Doha on Sunday to meet with his Qatari counterpart.
Assad Shaibani also met with the Prime Minister of Qatar, using his visit to ask the United States to lift sanctions on Syria, many of which it had imposed during the rule of ousted President Bashar Assad.
Rebels led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group ousted Assad on December 8 after a fierce offensive that lasted less than two weeks.
Since then, Syria’s new authorities have been working to re-establish diplomatic ties with regional and global governments, most of which were severed due to Assad’s brutal crackdown on protesters.
What did the top diplomat say?
After meeting Qatar’s Minister of State Mohammed bin Abdulaziz al-Khulaifi, Shaibani reiterated his call for the US to lift sanctions on his country.
“We conveyed our concerns to Doha about the challenges related to the economic sanctions imposed on the Syrian people,” Syrian radio station Sham FM quoted him as saying.
The interim foreign minister described the measures as “an obstacle and obstruction to a rapid recovery.”
According to the United Nations, about 90% of Syrians live below the poverty line, with more than half the population not knowing where their next meal will come from.
On Sunday, Syria’s new finance minister Mohammed Abazid told Reuters news agency that the government planned to raise salaries by 400% next month for many public sector workers.
This increase will be financed by existing state resources, in addition to regional aid, new investment, and the ability to free up Syrian assets held abroad.
Under Assad, salaries for public sector workers rose by about $25 (about €24.25), bringing them below the poverty line.
New Syrian officials are building regional, global bridges
The visit to Qatar by Shaibani, a longtime supporter of the Syrian opposition and opponent of restoring ties with the Assad regime, is part of larger movements in the region.
The interim top diplomat was in Saudi Arabia earlier this week. He also plans to visit the United Arab Emirates and Jordan in the coming days, he said on social media on Friday.
On Friday, Shaibani also met his German and French counterparts, Annalena Baerbock and Jean-Noël Barrot, respectively, who both became the highest-ranking European officials to visit the Arab country since Assad’s ouster.
The US and European countries have been cautiously negotiating with Syria since Assad’s ouster, increasingly expressing fears over how the new Islamic government will treat religious minorities and women.
Meanwhile, several European countries halted asylum applications from Syrians the day after Assad was ousted from power, with German officials recently saying some Syrians could be deported.
rmt/sms (AFP, AP, Reuters)
