The Syrian government granted licenses for two companies owned by Saudi investors to invest in phosphate, fertilizers and cement sectors in Syria.
Syria considered one of the top countries in the world with phosphate reserves, as it ranges, according to studies, between 2.5 and 3 billion tons, while no more than 0.17% of it has been extracted.
In 2011, Syria ranked fifth on the list of phosphate exporting countries.
The Syrian government has reached a partnership contract with Saudi investors in the phosphate sector in Syria, without giving more details regarding the agreements.
This Syrian government announcement comes 4 months after a meeting that took place between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the Syrian president Bashar al Assad, following the conclusion of the 32nd Arab Summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Saudi-Syrian relations witnessed stagnation in the period that followed the Arab summit, following its recovery following the normalization of Saudi Arabia and a number of Arab countries with the Syrian government after the devastating earthquake that struck Syria and Türkiye on February 6, this year.
The Saudi investing in Phosphate sector in Syria considered to be a remarkable development, as this sector among others were exclusive for Syria traditional allies Russia and Iran.
In 2018 Russia took control of the Sharqiya and Khunaifis sites, according to the agreement signed between the Syrian government and the Russian Stroytrans company.
The agreement granted the Russian company the rights to obtain 70% of the sales revenues, and the agreement will continue for fifty years, and the Russian company held the responsibility for maintaining, extracting and transporting phosphate production sites.
According to reports that the Russian Stroytrans company, which is under US and EU sanctions, since 2014 for conducting business activites in Crimea aster Russia annexed the peninsula from Ukraine, exported phosphates worth millions of dollars to European fertilizer markets since 2018.
The British Guardian newspaper, which dealt with a joint investigation by several organizations and journalists from different countries, revealed last year that Europe’s imported phosphates from Syria.
The investigation begins with talking about a cargo ship flying the Honduran flag, which evaded international tracking systems off the coast of Cyprus in January, then reappeared a week later and was heading north to Europe.
This ship wasn’t lost, but rather docked in a Syrian port under the control of Russia.
The Guardian newspaper said that cheap Syrian phosphate exports have flourished in recent years, pointing out that Europe has a very few phosphate reserves, which is necessary for several industries, especially the agricultural fertilizers.
