Sharaa says Syria has attracted $28 billion in investments since fall of Assad

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa said on Wednesday his country had managed to secure $28 billion worth of investments in the past 10 months following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s government last year.

The president cited the figure while speaking in Riyadh at the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh, where he was touted as a special guest during the ninth-edition of the forum.

“The opportunity in Syria is enormous, and there’s room for everyone in Syria,” Sharaa added as he sought to assure potential investors at the conference.

Syria has begun the mammoth task of trying to rebuild the country’s shattered economy, after over a decade of war saw that tens of thousands killed, millions displaced and cities flattened.

For decades, the country was also unable to secure significant investments due to layers of sanctions targeting its government.

Earlier this month, the World Bank put a “conservative best estimate” of the cost of rebuilding Syria at $216 billion.

Since the overthrow of Assad last year, Saudi Arabia has been courting Damascus’s new leaders, as the kingdom seeks to draw the country long dominated by Iran and Russia closer.

In May, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman convinced US President Donald Trump to promise to lift Syria sanctions.

The crown prince also arranged a landmark meeting between Trump and Sharaa, a former jihadist who spent five years in US custody in Iraq.

The kingdom has also deployed its vast oil wealth in pursuit of its goals.

In July, Saudi Arabia signed investment and partnership deals with Syria valued at $6.4 billion to help with post-war reconstruction.

In April, Saudi Arabia vowed, alongside Qatar, to settle $15 million in Syrian debt to the World Bank.