By Menna AlaaElDin and Muhammad Al Gebaly
CAIRO (Reuters) -Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud said on Saturday that the kingdom will jointly offer with Qatar financial support to state employees in Syria.
“The kingdom will provide with Qatar joint financial support to state employees in Syria,” Bin Farhan said during a press conference with his Syrian counterpart Asaad al-Shibani in Damascus.
He did not provide details on the size of the financial support to be provided by Riyadh and Doha. However, it echoes a similar move by Qatar to bankroll Syria’s public sector.
A joint statement by Saudi Arabia and Qatar later said on Saturday that the joint financial support would be delivered over a three-month period.
It said the move came following an earlier contribution by Saudi Arabia and Qatar in April to settle Syria’s outstanding arrears of around $15 million to the World Bank.
The Saudi foreign minister’s visit comes a few weeks after the U.S. made a surprise announcement on lifting sanctions on Syria’s Islamist-led government which overthrew former leader Bashar al-Assad in December.
U.S. President Donald Trump made the decision during his recent visit to the Middle East and said it was at the behest of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, whose country was a main advocate for the lifting of sanctions.
The European Union also recently lifted economic sanctions on Syria.
Bin Farhan referred to his country’s role in helping to lift economic sanctions on Syria, saying that Saudi Arabia would continue to be one of the main backers of Syria on its path to reconstruction and economic recovery.
He said he was being accompanied by a high-level economic delegation from the kingdom to “hold talks (with the Syrian side) to bolster aspects of cooperation in various fields”.
Several visits would then follow in the coming days by Saudi businessmen to Syria to discuss investments in energy, agriculture, infrastructure and other sectors, he said.
The Syrian leadership is seeking to strengthen ties with Arab and Western leaders following the fall of Assad at the hands of Ahmed al-Sharaa’s Sunni Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
It hopes a flow of aid and investments by Gulf neighbors following the lifting of economic sanctions would help it rebuild a state shattered by conflict.
Syria’s Sharaa is set to visit Kuwait on Sunday upon an invitation by Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Sabah, Syrian state news agency SANA reported, citing a source in the Syrian president’s office.
Sharaa is set to discuss joint cooperation in various economic and political aspects in his first official visit to Kuwait, the source said.
(Reporting by Menna Alaa El-Din and Muhammad Al Gebaly; Writing by Menna Alaa El-Din and Jaidaa Taha; Editing by Toby Chopra and Marguerita Choy)
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