ECONOMY AND COMMERCE  

         2/3 of Syria’s foreign trade(2-2,5 billion dollars) is still made by government. Syria’s foreign trade policies are suitable for import opening and import of products, produced in the country, and consumption goods is generally banned. Customs proportion of  products imported are high. Foreign trade and foreign exchange processes consist of long and complex practises import and export depend on licence. Private sector is occupied with foreign trade, in the frame of its scarce opportunities, to the degree foreign trade policies enabled and despite small-scale.Especially for domestic market, in sectors such as food, textile, chemistry, it usually imports raw material or crude materals. 

        Citizen’s potential for purchase is meager. Private sector usually meets its import with foreign exchange, which they earn through export, by purchasing of other firms earnings from export and the earnings that they didn’t use. The government doesn’t assign foreign exchange to the importers from its foreign exchange sources. The Banking are undeveloped. The foreign exchange transfers are administered under the control of government. Foreign banks don’t have the right to set up a branch. Despite all these negative conditions, private sector functions actively in Syria. They have close relations with countries of region. Syria is in close cooperation with Arabian countries. It pioneers for the establishment of Arabian mutual market. In this frame, since 1999 it began customs discount with Lebanon. Customs taxes, which are mutually going to be lowered in each year, are going to be abolished in 2002. 

        After coming to a conclusion of Middle East Process, firstly EU countries, developed countries will attach importance to communal investments in the region. In terms of, visits of commercial committees coming to Syria from developed east countries were speeded. In the country, foreign investments are envied with the help of Investment Encouraging Law, Foreign capital investments are especially belong to AB countries more than half of Syria’s export consist of petrol and petrol products. Recently, parallel to the decrease of Earth’s petrol prices, Syria’s income has been decreased, thanks to industrialization and investment policies its import has increased and so its foreign trade has started to have a deficit. Since the beginning of 1997, import has depreciated related to the economic recession. Economic slump affected negatively from Russia and its crisis, and the decrease in import and export goes on.

        More than half of the export income consist of crude petrol and petrol products. And  the other export goods are composed of cotton phosphate, wheat, and other  agricultural products. Recently, there has been many improvements in export of processed agricultural products. More than half of crude petrol exported is oriented towards United Nation. According to the data that have been published in countries arena by Syria; in export in 1997 Italy, France, Spain, Turkey, Lebonan lead the top five. The export that is made with this five country forms 72% of total export.

        In the direction of policies carried out by Syria, its most common import is, firstly machine-equipment, automobiles, the other transportation vehicles and chemicals. The other import goods, which are significant, are iron-steel products, synthetic and artificial threads, natural oils, and products that can’t be provided by producing investment goods such as machine-equipment, Germany leading the top, are obtained from Italy, Japan and ABD. A great deal of spare parts is imported from Turkey, Spain and Italy. Syria provides more than half of its imports from AB. In Syria’s importation in 1997, Germany, Italy, ABD, France and Turkey lead the top five. The import made from these five countries attained 35%.