Tehran has announced its intention to build a business center for Iranians in the Free Zone in the capital Damascus, to complete its aim of creating economic influence for itself in Syria.
The Iranian ISNA agency quoted the head of the Joint Syrian-Iranian Economic Council, Kiwan Kashfi as saying that it would set up the business center.
Kashfi pointed to the recent visit carried out by the Iranian economic delegation, during which it met with officials from the Assad regime. He said that, “During this visit, preparations were completed to set up a business center for Iranians in Damascus, and the preparations were met with success.”
During this visit he said that there was follow-up on other political issues, including the establishment of a “joint transport company between Iran, Iraq and Syria to transport Iranian goods through Iraq to Syria.”
At the end of December, the Assad regime signed with its Iranian counterpart a long-term strategic economic cooperation agreement, as the regime government stressed that Iranian companies would receive priority in the reconstruction of Syria in the future.
In Syria, Iran wants to imitate its dominance of the economic sectors in neighboring Iraq, as Tehran considers itself to be responsible for sparing Assad from disaster. Tehran has enjoyed preferential treatment in the Syrian economy as it attempts to regain the six billion dollars it estimates it has spent each year in supporting the regime. Not surprisingly, the regime has repeatedly issued, since 2014, exclusive tenders for Iranian companies at a rate of one every three months.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
