Damascus, SANA – Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade Dr. Humam al-Jazaeri stressed that the reoperation of textile factories gains government’s top priority as it sought to set plans for supporting and protecting national industries.
Meeting manufacturers of textile on Monday, al-Jazaeri said the ministry didn’t grant any import license for the last three months with the aim of completely preventing the smuggling of garments and protect the national industry in order to push the wheel of this industry forwards.
Import is confined within agreements signed previously with some countries and administrative measures have been adopted to halt granting new import licenses pending that the domestic clothing industry regain its position in the local and foreign markets, the minister pointed out.
Minister Jazaeri elaborated that decreasing the customs tariff of garments aims at unifying the customs categories, curbing smuggling and increasing the revenues.
He called on the manufacturers to immediately work on setting Syrian standard specifications in regard with the garments industry to be adopted by the ministry in a way that contribute to increasing the garments importation.
Chairman of the Exporters Union Mohammad al-Sawah called for supporting national industry through finding new mechanisms for supporting the exportation of garments.
In a relevant context, Chairman of Committee of Garments Industry at the Damascus Chamber of Industry Akram Qatout reiterated the need for opening new markets to sell their products as the Syrian industry is suffering due to the unfair siege imposed on Syria.
H. Zain/ Barry