DAMASCUS (Middle East Eye) - The Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) has unanimously announced that Damascus would host the Arab Energy Conference in 2024.
Oil ministers from OAPEC also agreed at the virtual meeting in Kuwait that Syria would chair the council of Arab energy producers for one year, starting in 2022, taking the place of the current chair, Saudi Arabia.
While Arab countries have recently been at the fore of engaging with Damascus, this has not always been the case.
Jordan’s king held a much-publicized phone call with his counterpart in Damascus in October and has lobbied for sanctions relief in Washington so his fragile economy can resume trade with Syria.
The UAE this summer resumed direct flights to Syria and had a prominent booth at the 2020 Dubai Expo. Emirati businessmen have also visited Damascus to attend trade fairs.
A trip by the UAE’s top diplomat to Syria in November was seen as a culmination of these efforts. Yet, while the two countries discussed potential investments in reconstruction , the UAE appears to be proceeding slowly.
The high-profile visit produced just one agreement for a group of undisclosed Emirati companies to back a solar energy plant in the Syrian countryside.