Damascus, The free trade zones in Syria are one of the most important investment incubators that contribute to the development of the national economy by attracting local and foreign capital to establish industrial and commercial investments that help enhance trade exchange with countries and activate transit movement.

The free zones also play a key role in activating the sea ports and transportation services, providing job opportunities and increasing financial resources for the public treasury.

Director of the General Establishment for Free Zones, Iyad Kousa, said in a statement to SANA that the establishment is constantly seeking to enhance the economic and developmental role of the free zones, and the focus is currently on encouraging industrial activity by granting additional facilitations to the products manufactured within them.

This would enable investors to compete with the products manufactured in Arab countries and gradually dispense with importing products similar to products manufactured in the free zones, Kousa added.

He highlighted the continuous endeavor to support trade activities and transit movement at the free zones by allowing the entry of some goods into them with the intention of storing them for re-export.

He added that the establishment has achieved an increase in its revenues compared to previous years as the revenues have amounted to SYP 8.8 billion until the end of the second month of this year.

“The number of free zone investors has reached 749, including 423 in the free zone in Damascus, and their invested capital is 365 million dollars, providing 4,826 job opportunities,” Kousa said.

He added “The value of goods and machinery imported into the free zones amounted to SYP 63 billion, and the value of goods and vehicles exported from the free zones, whether inside or outside the country hit SYP 35 billion.”

Kousa noted that the Directorate of General Customs received customs duties as a result of placing goods and mechanisms in the free zones for local consumption inside the country during the year 2020 at a value of SYP 10.6 billion, and it rose in 2021 to SYP 28.3 billion, while the collected fees amounted to SYP 3 billion until the end of the second month of the current year.

Source: Syrian Arab News Agency