DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – The issue of the emigration of Syrian industrialists dominated the news for days, where the matter turned into an occasion for accusations between some industrialists and traders on the one hand, and for some to take advantage and announce their positions and support on the other hand.
On September 25, the Secretary of the Damascus Chamber of Commerce, Muhammad al-Hallaq, said that foreign trade is based on trust, but we lost a lot of it with foreign traders, and if the implementation of the import and export decisions (Resolutions 1070 and 1071) was delayed for only a month, we would have avoided a disruption in the relationship between the importer and the exporter.
It was also remarkable that some have backtracked.
The issue became public with a statement by Majd Shashman, member of the Federation of Aleppo Chambers of Industry, in which he stressed that the number of industrialists who left Aleppo and Damascus within two weeks reached 37,000.
However, he backtracked after media outlets and social media pages buzzed with this number, and returned to say that the numbers that were circulated were incorrect, without mentioning any numbers about the emigration of the industrialists.
What he mentioned were some numbers of people leaving the country for various reasons, although some numbers were mentioned, such as motivating all official bodies to work and make efforts to stop that.
Exaggerated
Reactions started to emerge through the Facebook pages, where the head of the Damascus Chamber of Industry, Samer al-Debs, posted that “talking about the emigration of industrialists is exaggerated and is taking unrealistic dimensions.”
Al-Debs added that he asked his colleagues within the Chamber to name ten people who closed their facilities and emigrated, “but they did not give a single name, while there is talk of 30,000 industrialists emigrating.”
He considered that this matter falls within a systematic campaign carried out by those who have problems with the state or they have non-performing loans, and saying so as a kind of threat and intimidation.
He pointed out that whoever goes, another will come to replace him, as happened during the crisis, and those who talk about their successes in Egypt, most of them were in Egypt before the crisis, or in its beginnings.
The response to this post came from the head of the Federation of Syrian Chambers of Industry, Fares al-Shihabi, who was known for his constant talk about the problems of industry and the emigration of industrialists.
“Those parasites are the most beneficiaries of this abnormal situation, which allowed them to import and smuggle everything, destroy the national economy, and turn the country into a market and a dumping ground for cheap foreign products from China and Turkey. Their joy today is indescribable, as well as their crime against the homeland and its economy,” he said.
Rif Dimashq
Wassim al-Qattan, head of the Rif Dimashq Chamber of Commerce and a businessmen who appeared during the war years, did not stand by, but said, “the reality is not like what the liars say.. in this country there is what is tempting to stay even for those with utilitarian inclinations who do not take into account the moral aspect of their relationship with their homeland.”
“Syria is a country of economic diversity and the home of the elements of development for those who have a creative investment thought… Here is the vast field for every businessman who knows how to mix that noble mixture between belonging and development,” he added.
He pointed out that “patriotic industrialists and merchants remained, who are characterized by their belonging to their homeland in its ordeal. They did not complain about the restriction and pressure of import lists, because they realized that it was a necessity and a temporary situation, so they were satisfied with what exists and what is possible.”
Because of the existence of a kind of historical conflict of interest between Syria’s merchants who seek to import everything, and the industrialists who demand to stop importing everything they manufacture, the merchants exaggerated the announced numbers of the industrial migrant.
“What is being circulated about the migration of industrialists and traders is exaggerated, and there is government follow-up to find solutions to all problems,” member of the Damascus Chamber of Commerce office, Imad al-Qabbani, posted.
The same is the case with the Secretary of the Damascus Chamber of Industry and its countryside, Muhammad Akram al-Hallaq, who pointed out that “what is rumored about the migration of Syrian industrialists to Egypt has nothing to do with reality.”
“No industrialists left recently”
This debate required the personal intervention of the Syrian Minister of Industry, Ziyad Sabbagh, as he said in a statement to a local media outlet, that they have not received any information about industrialists’ closure of their factories or facilities recently, and no industrialists have left the country in the last period.
“There are even some industrialists who want to establish projects and facilities in more than one country,” Sabbagh said.
“The industrial sector was badly damaged during the war years, and a group of investors and industrialists left the country during that period,” he added.
The talk about the emigration of industrialists in general was accompanied by their destination, which is Egypt, where pictures of the huge Sabbagh Sharabati textile factory in Egypt Sabbagh, which employs more than 2,000 workers, and with a capital of 200 million dollars. The President of Egypt, Sisi, visited it personally due to its great success.
Egyptian facilities to Syrian investors
However, the head of the Syrian-Egyptian Business Council, Khaldoun al-Muwaqa’ told a local media outlet that Egypt did not provide facilities or advantages to Syrian investors in addition to or more than what it offers to other Arab and foreign investors.
He added that the establishment of an industrial city for the Syrians was proposed by the Egyptian Minister of Industry in 2017, and the assembly was assigned to it, but the city project did not continue, and it was withdrawn, and it is essentially a purely state and sovereign decision.
He pointed out that the purpose of establishing the industrial city was not to attract Syrian industrialists from Syria or to settle those who are already in Egypt, but to organize their presence in Egypt.
He stated that estimates indicate that the Syrians’ money in Egypt reaches about 23 billion dollars, and the number of Syrian industrialists in Egypt is between 15,000 -17,000, and 30,000 businessmen.
In an attempt to get the opinions of industrialists, an industrialist working in cotton clothes in Damascus told North Press, “This will not change the reality, which is that the Syrian industrialist works in very stressful conditions.”
He pointed out that there are many provocative decisions, such as Resolution No. 8 and everything related to dealing with the dollar and the recent re-cutting, and other decisions that are added to the great shortage of energy and fuel that make every industrialist in Syria think daily about other options that might be better.
He mentioned that many of those working in Egypt now were connected with the Egyptian markets before the war, such as Sabbagh and Sharabati.
He pointed out that most of the industrialists will return to invest again in Syria when the economic conditions improve to expand their businesses and markets.