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Saudi Arabia Opens Investment Path with Syria Through Business Travel Permits

Prime Highlights

  • Saudi Arabia launches business travel visas between Saudi Arabia and Syria in order to promote bilateral economic cooperation.
  • A Saudi–Syrian Investment Forum is scheduled to be conducted in Damascus in the near future to bring together public and private sector participants.

Key Facts

  • Syrian businessmen are now able to apply for travel visas at the Saudi embassy in Damascus, and Saudi investors are able to sign up on the Interior Ministry e-platform.
  • The action comes after the re-opening of Saudi Arabia’s Syrian embassy and, concurrently, the launch of a project with Qatar to settle Syria’s arrears with the World Bank.

Key Background

Saudi Arabia is deepening its investment relationship within by initiating a new project that facilitates business trips between Syria and the Kingdom. By doing this step, Saudi Arabia is already granting permission to travel for the Syrian and Saudi investors as a measure towards easier cross-border travel for investment. Syrian businessmen applications are already being opened up by the Saudi embassy in Damascus, while Saudi investors’ applications are available online via the Interior Ministry’s electronic portal. This is the latest in the sequence of moves towards the re-establishment of economic and diplomatic ties between the two countries.

This decision comes after Saudi Arabia re-opened its Damascus embassy in 2024, which closed over a decade of diplomatic presence and was an indication of greater involvement in the region. The re-opened diplomatic mission has now created opportunities for greater economic cooperation with the investment circles on both sides hailing the decision. The granting of these business visas is set to push bilateral trade and joint ventures to great heights.

One of the main future events is the future Saudi–Syrian Investment Forum, hosted in Damascus by the Saudi Ministry of Investment. The forum will look to gather main decision-makers and private and public investors in order to share information about potential cooperation possibilities in infrastructure, energy, and agriculture sectors. The forum will also serve as a platform for the showcase of investment-ready projects as well as economic diversification.

Saudi Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih conducted video conferences last week with Syrian Economy and Trade Minister Mohammad Al-Shaar, both of whom said they were serious about economic cooperation. The move came after Saudi Arabia and Qatar had made joint efforts earlier, facilitating Syria’s $15 million World Bank arrears payment in April. The U.S. also eased major sanctions on Syria in June, in another indication of loosening globally. These simultaneous steps indicate increasing regional keenness to loosen Syria’s reintegration into the international economy.