{"id":123525,"date":"2025-05-22T21:16:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T21:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/123525\/"},"modified":"2025-05-22T21:16:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T21:16:08","slug":"syrian-business-owners-welcome-eus-lifting-of-sanctions-politics-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/123525\/","title":{"rendered":"Syrian business owners welcome EU\u2019s lifting of sanctions | Politics News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article__subhead\">Syrians are hoping sanctions relief will help boost investment, reconstruction after more than a decade of civil war.<\/p>\n<p>Business owners in Syria have welcomed the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/5\/20\/eu-agrees-to-lift-all-economic-sanctions-on-syria-diplomats\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">European Union\u2019s decision<\/a> this week to lift sanctions on the country, in what observers say is the most significant easing of Western pressure on Damascus in more than a decade.<\/p>\n<p>The EU\u2019s move, which followed a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/5\/13\/us-decision-to-lift-sanctions-on-syria-heres-what-you-need-to-know\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">similar announcement<\/a>\u00a0by the United States in mid-May, was praised by Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani as one that would bolster Syria\u2019s security and stability.<\/p>\n<p>For many Syrian entrepreneurs, it also brings the hope of rebuilding their livelihoods after years of economic isolation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCompanies that were ousted from Syria and stopped dealing with us because of the sanctions are now in contact with us,\u201d Hassan Bandakji, a local business owner, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany companies and producers are telling us they are coming back and that they want to reserve a spot in our market.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The EU and US sanctions had levied wide-ranging sanctions against the government of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2024\/12\/8\/what-happened-in-syria-has-al-assad-really-fallen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">removed from power<\/a> in a rebel offensive in December of last year.<\/p>\n<p>The economic curbs had severely limited trade, investment, and financial transactions in Syria, cutting businesses off from supplies and international banking.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe main obstacle we faced was getting raw materials and automated lines,\u201d said Ali Sheikh Kweider, who manages a factory in the countryside of the Syrian capital, Damascus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs for bank accounts, we weren\u2019t able to send or receive any transactions,\u201d Kweider told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n<p>Syria\u2019s new government, led by ex-rebel leader and interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, had called for the sanctions to be lifted as it seeks to rebuild the country.<\/p>\n<p>US President Donald Trump said after a meeting with al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia last week that he planned to order the lifting of American sanctions on Syria.<\/p>\n<p>Reporting from Damascus, Al Jazeera\u2019s Mahmoud Abdelwahed said the government is hoping the sanctions relief will help Syria reintegrate into the international community.<\/p>\n<p>It also views the EU\u2019s announcement as additional \u201crecognition of the new political leadership\u201d in the country, Abdelwahed added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Syrians are hoping sanctions relief will help boost investment, reconstruction after more than a decade of civil war.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":123526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187,1699,4582,3058,839,12,285,6500,54901,8406],"class_list":{"0":"post-123525","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-european","11":"tag-european-union","12":"tag-human-rights","13":"tag-international-trade","14":"tag-middle-east","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-politics","17":"tag-syria","18":"tag-syrias-war","19":"tag-united-nations"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114553565576548711","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}