Businesses Won’t Enter Syria Without More Sanctions Predictability, UN Official Says
Most businesses likely won’t consider entering the Syrian market until the sanctions relief granted by the Trump administration (see 2506300055 and 2505230073) appears to be more permanent, panelists said during a webinar this week hosted by the Arab Center in Washington.
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Adam Abdel Mawla, the resident coordinator in Syria for the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, stressed that the U.S. move was a “suspension” of sanctions and “not a lifting.” He said companies are waiting for the U.S. to officially repeal the Caesar Civilian Protection Act, which authorizes sanctions on Syria in response to the war crimes committed by former leader Bashar Assad, before they decide to do business with the country.
“Without a predictable timeline as to when the sanctions will be completely scrapped, I feel that many businesses will hesitate to just come to Syria and start doing business here,” Mawla said. He added it will be “very helpful” if Congress moves quickly on bills to repeal the Caesar Act. Legislation to repeal the law has been introduced in the House and Senate (see 2506300059, 2506200029 and 2506130057).
That would “go a long way in helping the country and provide the predictability that the businesses would need for them to resume operations inside Syria,” Mawla said.
Natasha Hall, nonresident senior associate with the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Geopolitics and Foreign Policy Department, said the impact of past sanctions is clearly still being felt in Syria. She said the country needs to first rebuild much of its infrastructure before it can handle new business.
“There's still this sort of hangover from sanctions,” she said, “even those that have been lifted."
Mawla said he has seen "many" companies over the past few weeks adopt a “wait-and-see” approach, even Syrian-owned businesses operating in other nations, such as Egypt. They’re “still hesitant to come back to the country,” he said. “This is all to say that it will take time before we see the results, the positive results, of the sanctions lifting.”