DAMASCUS: Syria’s foreign minister said on Tuesday that the lifting of sanctions on his country showed an “international will” to support Damascus, after EU countries agreed to end the bloc’s economic sanctions. In a press conference in Damascus alongside his Jordanian counterpart, Asaad Al-Shaibani said that “lifting sanctions expresses the regional and international will to support Syria”, adding that “the Syrian people today have a very important and historic opportunity to rebuild their country”. “The plan today is to benefit from the lifting of sanctions. Anyone who wants to invest in Syria, the doors are open; anyone who wants to cooperate with Syria, there are no sanctions,” he added.

Shaibani’s statement came after European diplomats said in Brussels that the EU had given the green light to lifting all economic sanctions on Syria in an attempt to support the country’s reconstruction following the December overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar Al-Assad.

“We want to help the Syrian people rebuild a new, inclusive and peaceful Syria,” Kallas said in a post on social media platform X following discussions with ministers in Brussels. The European Union’s policy shift comes after President Donald Trump said last week he would order the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. “The EU has always stood by Syrians throughout the last 14 years - and will keep doing so,” Kallas said.

Syria's interim foreign minister Asaad Al-Shaibani receives Jordan's top diplomat, Ayman Safadi, in Damascus on May 20, 2025.

The bloc has already eased sanctions related to energy, transport and reconstruction, as well as associated financial transactions, but some capitals have argued that the measures were insufficient to help support Syria’s political transition and economic recovery. “The European Union wants to make a fresh start with Syria ... but we also expect an inclusive policy within the country that includes all population groups and religious groups,” Germany’s foreign minister Johann Wadephul said in a written statement. “It is important to us that a united Syria can thus take its future into its own hands,” he added.

‘A historic milestone’

Western states had imposed a plethora of sanctions on Al-Assad, his inner circle and the Syrian government as a whole throughout the 14-year civil war, which killed over half a million people. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi congratulated Al-Shaibani on the developments, saying Syria was now “in a new phase, and Syria’s success requires giving it a chance to succeed”. Lifting sanctions would provide the Syrian government with “the capabilities it needs to serve its people and will allow the private sector in all countries of the world to work towards that”, Safadi said.

Syria and Jordan also announced on Tuesday the formation of a higher coordination council between the two countries and the signing of a memorandum of understanding. “We agreed on a roadmap to boost cooperation in the fields of energy, water, industry, trade and transport” as well as the health sector, Safadi said. Al-Shaibani said that today’s visit constituted “a historic milestone in the history of both countries and a very important point in the future of the relationship between the two countries”. — Agencies