US to establish a business center in Damascus

Diplomatic sources told the London-based al-Hayat daily that the US is discussing the idea of establishing a US businessmen center in Damascus at a cost of US $ 200 million which will be the second in Syria after the Syrian-European Business center (SEBC), whose work period was extended until the end of next year 2000, awaiting for the consent of the EU council to finance it.

Meantime, a Syrian economic delegation left for the US on Saturday in a first of its kind visit since two decades. The visits bears political dimensions for the future of relations between the two countries.

The chairman of the said Syrian economic delegation Rateb al-Shallah told al-Hayat that the visit which will last for four days aims at infiltrating into the American market and to increase commercial cooperation between the two sides.

The paper noted that the last visit by a Syrian trade delegation to the US was in 1978 when several Syrian economists presented Syria in an expanded Arab delegation.