The UK government is unable to give a date for the reopening of its embassy in Damascus, despite supporting its reintroduction, a minister said, as guidelines for businesses seeking to invest in Syria were published.
The fall of the Assad regime last year and the lifting of UK sanctions has paved the way for a commercial rush to Damascus, with investment opportunities in sectors such as construction, debris removal, rebuilding infrastructure and education.
A Syrian-British business delegation made its first trip to Damascus last week, hoping to drum up investment from UK companies into Syria’s devastated economy.
Syria offers a “potentially high return market” despite a “challenging and high risk context”, the new guidelines from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said.
The lifting of UK sanctions in March was intended to allow for “essential investment” in the country to support Syrians in rebuilding their devastated lives.
This included reversing punitive measures on the Central Bank of Syria, the Ministry of Defence in Damascus and other key institutions.
Yet sanctions are still imposed on the export and import of luxury goods, diamonds and gold, although the Foreign Office has advised individual traders could be eligible for an exemption on these.
Sanctions on Syrians linked to the Assad regime and other armed groups still apply, as they were initially targeted over human rights abuse, and the smuggling of drugs and arms.
Other prohibitions including trading interception and monitoring chemical weapons material.
The armed group Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, whose founders and key members now make up the Syrian government, is no longer a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK, though it is still designated such by the UN.
The rush to invest in Syria is likely to be tempered until the US repeals its wide-reaching Caesar Act sanctions.
Though the UK restored diplomatic relations with Syria in July, a British embassy has yet to be re-established. Twelve countries in Europe, including Germany and Spain, have already reopened their embassies, and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shibani raised the new Syrian flag outside the embassy building in London, which had been abandoned for 13 years, during his first official visit to the UK last month, when the building was reopened.
A UK government minister declined to give a date for the reopening of the embassy in Damascus when questioned in the House of Lords on Tuesday.
“We are exploring options for a more permanent presence in Damascus and how we can engage further,” said Baroness Jenny Chapman, Minister for International Development and Africa.
She said the delays were not based on legal advice but on the need to ensure the embassy would be “successful and sustainable”. She said this should serve as a cautionary tale about severing diplomatic relations with other countries in future.
“The reason we’re so reluctant to withdraw from a country or city is because once you've withdrawn and once you no longer have that embassy, it's very difficult and always takes time and to establish that presence,” Ms Chapman said.
Meanwhile, the UK government is relying on aid organisations and the UN to address humanitarian issues in Syria, such as displacement from the civil war and poverty from economic collapse.
Ms Chapman said: “We do work through NGOs and the United Nations, and at the moment that's the right approach to take. We do look forward to a time when we can have a more normalised presence in Damascus and on all the things that you would normally associate with government-to-government relations and diplomatic relations."
She praised Syrians in the UK who were returning to their homeland to play a part in the reconstruction. "I'm very proud of the role that this country played in hosting many Syrians at a time of desperate need during the Assad regime,” she said of Britain.
“Many Syrians came here, they set up businesses, they made lives for themselves. Now, many wish to return because they want to be part of the rebuilding of their country. They're very proud of what they hope will be the future of their country."
Nonetheless, Syrian ministers have consistently described the UK as a key partner in their work to emerge on the world stage from economic and political isolation.
Perhaps the best alliance available is “with the British people”, said Abdul Salam Haykal, Syrian Minister for Communication, Information and Technology.
