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Assad wants $400 billion to rebuild Syria: Russian lawmaker

By Rudaw  15 April 2018- ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — After more than seven years of civil war, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told a delegation of Russian lawmakers in Damascus on Sunday that the country needs $400 billion to rebuild.Dimitry Sabljin, a member of the Duma, told Russia’s state-run RIA Novosti news agency that Assad estimates Syria will need about $400 billion for “infrastructure recovery” that would take 10-15 years to complete.

Sabljin headed a Russian delegation who met with Assad in Damascus. The Russian lawmaker said Assad expressed that Western oil and gas companies are not welcome, but Russian companies are.

The Syrian government’s budget for fiscal year 2018 is 3.187 trillion Syrian pounds (about $6.19 billion). “Syria’s economy has deeply deteriorated amid the ongoing conflict that began in 2011, declining by more than 70 percent from 2010 to 2017,” the CIA Factbook summarizes.

Syria’s state-run SANA news agency confirmed the meeting. They discussed the recent tripartite missile attack, a campaign of disinformation, and lies in the UN Security Council.Assad also pointed to the need for the two countries to establish mechanism for economic and parliamentary-level cooperation because there is a “redrawing of the global political map.”