Moscow studies cutting most of the Syrian debts

Well-informed Syrian sources announced that the talks of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Moscow will deal with the issue of the Syrian debts for Russia estimated at $13 billion.

However, sources at the Russian ministry of finance said that Moscow is studying chopping 90% of the Syrian debts which date back to the era of the former Soviet Union. But is it not clear whether an agreement will be reached over this matter during the visit of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to Moscow which started on Monday and will last for three days.

The Russian government said it pins great importance on the visit regarding the possibility of investing it to sign several agreements on trade exchange and economic cooperation as well as expanding cooperation in the field of energy. However, the Russian daily Komer Sant said that the Russian minister of Finance Alexy Kodren and his Syrian counterpart Muhammad al-Hussein held talks away from limelight in the mid of January in which they agreed to cut $9.8 billion off Syria's debts.

On the other hand, the Syrian state planning commission warned against the possibility that the Syrian economy will face deficits if it continues to depend on oil for income. The Syrian minister of oil Ibrahim Haddad indicated that his country's production of oil decreased in 2004 to 450,000 barrels daily. This decrease was gradual since 1999 because of the old oil wells which date back to the beginning of the 1970s.