And now, back to Syria. Sanctions against Damascus and Russian Crimea opened a window of opportunity. The Russian region and the Arab Republic agreed to cooperate intensely. They signed a series of mutually beneficial agreements.
Artyom Kol with the details of the negotiations.
- It's very nice to meet you.
- Thank you very much.
From the plane straight to negotiations. The first day of the Crimean delegation's trip is very busy. A meeting with the Minister of the Economy took place at the airport.
Mohammed Samer Khalil, Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade of Syria: “There'll be many negotiations both at the official and at the business level. We expect significant results. The visit is of great importance, it's the continuation of what's been achieved in Yalta during our participation in the international forum. It's also an extension of talks and contacts we've been having since April this year.”
The Syrian delegation visited Crimea half a year ago. And now, a return visit that resulted in a highly important cooperation.
Sergey Aksyonov, Head of Crimea: “The task is to create a trade house of the Russian Crimea and the Syrian Arab Republic. The one that would be registered in Crimea, as there's a free-trade zone there. It is clear we'll have departments in Damascus.”
On the first day, they discussed that the Crimean goods, such as metal and plastic pipes, electrical appliances, flour are vital for Syria that is restoring from war. In turn, the Arab Republic can send vegetables, fruits, and chemical products to the peninsula.
Crimean and Syrian representatives have 30 days to sign all the agreements in order to start cooperating with each other directly, stepping away from the dollar. According to the terms of the contract, all transactions should be in national currencies.
There have been international sanctions imposed on Crimea and Syria for years. It prevents the peninsula's ports to work at full power. The signed agreements will now unfreeze the seaports of the Crimea.
Andrey Nazarov, co-chairman of non-governmental organization Business Russia: “We are now expecting that the annual turnover will be a billion USD in 2-3 years. This will make a half of the prewar turnover between Russia and Syria. There's a task to achieve the same level we had before the war in several years, 2-2,5 billion dollars.”
The second day for the Crimean delegation will be busy, too. Sergey Aksyonov is to meet Syria's authorities to discuss the details of further cooperation.
Artyom Kol, Konstantin Morozov, Vesti, Syria.
