Syrian - Lebanese joint committee highlights economic cooperation
Syria-Lebanon, Politics, 11/3/1998

Chaired by Syrian Prime Minister Mahmoud al-Zou'bi and his Lebanese counterpart Rafik Hariri, the joint Syrian-Lebanese committee held a meeting on Monday. In an inaugural statement to the meeting, the Syrian premier said that any Syrian -Lebanese meeting would be useful for both countries.

He added that what has been achieved during the last stage is great and important. "We hope through our joint meetings that we would fulfill more steps forward in our bilateral cooperation."

For his part, Hariri said: "At this meeting we are trying to deal with some issues such as presenting the facilities for fulfilling the signed accords between both countries, and we do hope that this meeting and any future meetings would achieve more cooperation on all levels."

Discussions between the two sides centered on the presented memorandums on the mechanism for reducing custom taxes to a rate of 25%, and introducing certificates of origin on national products traded between the two countries. The next meeting will be held in Beirut on December 16.

The meeting concluded with statements made by both premiers.

Al-Zou'bi said that both sides "have agreed on the method of achieving the final agreement." He stated that this agreement is for the good of both Syria and Lebanon and that it will have positive results on all levels and encourage industrialists and tradespeople to market Syrian and Lebanese commodities from their markets to both states.

For his part, Hariri said that customs tax reductions will start as of January 1, 1999, adding that the results of the meeting were good for both Syria and Lebanon.

Later in the day, the two premiers co-signed the joint minutes of meetings including the results of the Syrian - Lebanese economic committee's meetings on work pertaining to methods of implementation of what had been agreed upon regarding free trade in national industrial products, reducing customs taxes to 25% and abiding by certificates of origin for commodities.

Syria's delegation to the meeting included the deputy premier for economic affairs and services, the ministers of economy and foreign trade, planning, finance and agriculture, the customs general directorate and a number of advisors and academics. The Lebanese side was represented by the ministers of industry, finance, agriculture and the economy and trade and the customs general director and advisors concerned.

Secretary-general of the Syrian-Lebanese Higher Council, Nasri al-Kouri, also attended the meeting.

Previous Stories:
  Lebanese - Syrian agreement reduces advertising costs by 70 percent   (10/24/1998)
  Lebanese PM concludes consultation visit in Damascus   (10/8/1998)
  Al-Assad and Hrawi discuss latest developments, Hariri heads to Saudi Arabia   (10/6/1998)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search