Hong Kong holds int’l summit on green economy
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DAMASCUS: Syria will host an Arab energy conference in 2024, the country’s energy ministry said, the latest sign that Arab countries are moving to re-engage with the government of Syria’s embattled President Bashar Assad, Arab News reported.
The announcement followed a unanimous vote from members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries during a virtual meeting Thursday, the ministry said. The conference will be held in Damascus, according to a ministry statement on Facebook and the official state news agency SANA. Qatar is hosting the 2023 conference.
Arab countries have in recent months been making limited moves to improve relations with Syria, a decade after it was shunned and kicked out of the Arab League at the onset of the country’s civil war in 2011.
The rapprochement has included the reopening of several embassies, visits by Arab officials to Damascus and restoring some commercial ties with the war-torn country. The moves are a recognition of the facts on the ground — after years of war and despite the initial support by some Arab countries to his opposition, Assad’s government has survived and his forces have regained control of much of the country.
Syria’s civil war has displaced half of its population, killed hundreds of thousands and driven the country’s economy into the ground.
The organisation’s charter was later changed to allow members where petroleum is an essential source of income, though not the main one. Syria and Egypt also subsequently joined the group.
The organisation’s website says the total reserves of the member states are estimated at 704 billion barrels a year.
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