A new private bank licensed in Syria

The Constitutional Committee of the Syrian-Bahraini Bank Project would hold its first meeting on the sidelines of the Arab Finance Ministers Conference due to take place in 28 and 30 of November, al-Thawra daily said Tuesday.

The Committee which is headed by Ratib al-Shalah, Chairman of Syrian Chambers of Commerce Union on the Syrian side, will follow up the study of the initial economic feasibility and the establishment of the bank, the paper added.

The license of the bank came under the directives of President Bashar al-Assad which was conveyed by the Syrian delegation who recently visited Bahrain and held discussions there, the daily stressed.

Both sides will equally fund the initial economic feasibility of the project. The capital of establishing the bank is $ 100 million, which makes it the largest in its capital among the licensed banks in Syria.

The Syrian-Bahraini bank is to start working in the Syrian market at the beginning of 2005 and will participate in activating the role of the private sector in the economic and commercial cooperation between the two sides.