Damascus,(SANA)-
Chairman of the French-Arab Chamber of Commerce , Herve de Charette , discussed on Thursday with Chairman of the Syrian Chambers of Commerce , Rateb Shallah , Chairman of the Chambers of Industry Union , Emad Ghraiwati, Chairman of the Syrian Maritime Chamber, Abdul-Kader Sabra , and Saeb Nahas, head of the Syrian side at the Syrian-French Businessmen Council , the stranding bilateral economic , and trade relations between the two countries.
During the meeting , the possibility of launching French investments in Syria was discussed bearing in mind the facilitations and privileges that the Great Arab Free Trade Area , GAFTA , offers , and the access it provides for the products of these projects to the markets of the GAFTA members countries free of customs duties.
The conferees also discussed the possibility of developing the Syrian ports in order to become the gates of import-export activities from and to Iraq, opening the way in front of the French investors to enter Syria after receiving the necessary investment insurance in Syria.
The two sides agreed to carryout French President Nicholas Sarkozy's idea of establishing the Syrian-French Businessmen Club to kick off activities starting from the beginning of next year.
In a statement to reporters , Saeb Nahas stressed the care of Syria and France to boost economic cooperation , pointing out to the efforts of France to have the Syrian-European Association Agreement signed and consequently a new page of economic relations between Syria and Europe will be opened .
A.N.Idelbi