The Syrian Minister of Finance, Yisr Barnieh, gives an interview to Reuters in his office at the Ministry of Finance in Damascus, on May 14, 2025. (Credit: Timour Azhari/Reuters)
Syria will participate on Monday in a closed-door session with the finance ministers and central bank governors of the G7 in Paris, a source close to the matter told Reuters, in a sign of the country's revived international standing less than two years after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
Syrian Finance Minister Mohammad Yisr Barnieh is expected to take part in a meeting focused on the sustainable economic recovery of Syria and its reintegration into the global financial system.
The two-day meeting of G7 financial officials is dominated by global economic imbalances, trade tensions and the consequences of conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.
Syria's economy remains deeply weakened by fifteen years of civil war and isolation. Although most sanctions have been eased or lifted since the fall of the former dictator, such as those from the Caesar Act in the United States, economic recovery remains sluggish.
Investors and banks remain cautious in the face of compliance risks and practical challenges of reconnecting Syria to the international financial system.
For Damascus, this G7 invitation represents another step in its efforts to rejoin the international system, as President Ahmad el-Chareh's government seeks to attract investment to fund the country's reconstruction.
This article is a translation of a dispatch published in English by Reuters.
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