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Syria..
A journey
through Syria is a journey
Syria
is the land of continuous and uninterrupted history.
It has known most of the prophets and conquerors.
It is the land on which greatest empires accumulate.
It is the cradle of the great civilization, and the accomplishments of
her ancient peoples are renowned throughout the world.
It is first and for all country of human being who has turned cooper into
artistic tools and mud into embroidered containers, and invented Bronze.
It was here that agriculture began ten thousand years ago, that settlement
commenced and civilization emerged. The kingdom of Ugarit (Ras Shamra)
offered mankind the first alphabet in history.
The immense strategic importance of Syria is due to her unique position
as a meeting of three continents (Asia, Africa, and Europe).
Through Syria lay the famous silk route.
This geographical position lent distinction to the country, not only as
a trade and caravan route, but also a melting pot of diverse ideas, beliefs,
talents, and cultures.
The Amorites, the Kananites and phoenicians inhabited the coastal regions,
the Arameans were the highlander, and the Nabateans inhabited the south.
Successive waves of migrations from the Arab peninsula gave an Arab identity
to Syria. The Islamic conquest of 636 A.D. only confirmed this Arab identity
and gave a sense of the land.
The Syrian Arab republic is located in the western part of Asia overlooking
the Mediterranean Basin. Its area is 184, 000 square kilometers with 12
million inhabitants.
It is surrounded by Turkey from the north, Iraq from east, Jordan from
and Palestine from the south and Mediterranean sea and Lebanon from the
west.
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Syrian Economy
Syria’s industrial
base is fairly diversified and areas such as food, textile, chemicals,
engineering are predominately state-run.
However, the private sector has begun to play a larger role in the textile,
leather, food, paper, chemicals, and sugar processing industries.
The processing of natural gas and phosphates, textile and foodstuff are
central to this effort.
Investment law number 10 has provided private businesses with a wide range
of incentives that has led to a marked improvement in the quality of existing
products and the emergence of new products previously imported.
Having undergone considerable modernisation, steps to increase production
and diversify output, the state-owned textile companies are among the
top industries in terms of production and export.
Earlier reforms have stimulated the private sector, the simplification
of trading procedures, the expansion of a wider range of industrial projects
available to private companies, the easing of foreign exchanges dealings.
And the reduction of state intervention has helped to encourage private
sector development.
Investment law number 10 has greatly facilitated the establishment of
new projects, particularly in small-scale manufacturing and in the service
sector.
The Syrian private sector has much to offer, such as a high degree of
efficiency, work incentives and excellent skills.
Moreover, due to a wide range of regional and international contacts,
the private sector also has greater access to international capital markets
in order to finance new projects. The largest plants in Syria are in the
textile sector and the total number of people working in textile manufacturing
is estimated to be around 500,000.
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