Damascus, (SANA) – Syria and Saudi Arabia signed on Sunday five agreements, memos of understanding and documents in the fields of customs, trade and economy at the conclusion of the deliberations of the Syrian-Saudi Joint Committee and the 1st Syrian-Saudi Businessmen Forum.

Syrian Minister of Finance Mohammad al-Hussein and Saudi counterpart Ibrahim al-Assaf signed the minutes of the Syrian-Saudi Joint Committee meetings and an agreement on a loan from the Saudi Fund for Development amounting to RS 525 million, which will participate in funding the project for expanding al-Naseriyah Electric Station.

Other signed documents include an agreement on amending the agreement on establishing the Syrian-Saudi Joint Committee, a memo of understating on customs, and the minutes of the first meeting of the directors of customs of both countries.

Minister al-Hussein said there will be constant communication with the Saudi Fund for Development, which will study the possibility of financing a number of proposed developmental projects in Syria.

He also added that the next session of the Syrian-Saudi Joint Committee will be held in Riyadh.

For his part, Minister al-Assaf said Saudi authorities will consider canceling entry visas for Syrian businessmen who visit Saudi Arabia.

The Syrian-Saudi Businessmen Forum had discussed proposed investment projects in the fields of tourism, services and infrastructure related to transport and real-estate development, with Minister of Tourism Saadalla Agha al-Qalaa reviewing the new tourism investment opportunities in Syria and the country's diverse natural, historic, religious and cultural tourist components.

Agha al-Qalaa also pointed out to the various facilitations and exemptions provided by the government to investors in the field of tourism. He added that tourism in Syria constitutes 11% of the GDP and provides 23% of foreign currency, with actual tourists in 2009 amounting to 6 million Arab, foreign and expatriate tourists.

For his part, Minister of Transport Yarub Badr underlined the basic elements of the major proposed investment projects in the field of transport, saying that there are currently 10 investment projects proposed by his Ministry with an overall cost of USD 5 billion, including a project for a 500 km highway connecting the Turkish and the Jordanian borders and a project for a 370 km highway connecting Tartous harbor and the Iraqi borders. The two projects have an estimated cost of USD 1.8 billion.

The other proposed transport projects include the Damascus Greater Interchange that surrounds Damascus city and connects all international roads, with four lanes, an overall length of 110 km, and an estimated cost of USD 400 million.

In turn, head of the Syrian-Saudi Business Council Omar Shoura reviewed the successful experience of the Bin Laden Saudi investment group in Syria and the success it achieved, calling on Saudi businessmen and investors to participate in proposed projects in Syria due to the country's promising investment atmosphere.

For his part, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resourced Sufyan al-Allaw pointed out to the investment opportunities in the fields of oil and gas in Syria, saying that potential oil reserves in Syria are estimated at over 43 billion barrels, while geological reserves amount to around 25 billion barrels.

The Minister added that gas reserves amount to 1,385 billion cubic meters, while discovered gas amounts to 700 billion, 410 billion cubic meters of which are producible. He indicated that this proves that there are massive reserves that need to be discovered, in addition to the discovered reserves that require development.

H. Sabbagh / Mazen