Saudi Arabia and Syria have closed a series of agreements valued at more than 403 million dollars, close to 360 million euros, focused on military cooperation, infrastructure projects, and housing reconstruction, after the meeting held in Riyadh between the Syrian transitional president, Ahmed al Sharaa, and the Saudi crown prince, Mohamed bin Salmán.
The understanding signed between the Syrian State and the Saudi Fund for Development is structured as a loan on advantageous terms that includes 100 million dollars, about 89 million euros, directed to the health sector, especially the rehabilitation and provision of equipment in health centers damaged after nearly 14 years of civil war.
In addition, 60 million dollars, equivalent to 53 million euros, will be allocated for the recovery of the housing stock, with the plan to intervene in 10,000 homes in an initial phase, while 105 million dollars, slightly more than 93 million euros, will be used to strengthen civil defense.
The financial package also includes 90 million dollars, about 80 million euros, for bringing the Aleppo thermal power plant up to speed, in the north of the country, along with another 30 million dollars, nearly 27 million euros, to improve and expand the systems for supplying drinking water in Damascus and in the province of Idlib, in northwest Syria.
To these items are added 18.6 million dollars, close to 16.5 million euros, aimed at promoting digital transformation and modernization of financial services, with the objective of shaping more efficient and transparent institutions that contribute to economic recovery and to the stability of a country devastated by more than a decade of conflict.
The agreements were reached after an unannounced visit by Al Sharaa to the Saudi capital this Tuesday, the second he has made to Riyadh in the past month, and among them “stands out an agreement on cooperation between the ministries of Defense” of the two countries, according to what the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has indicated.