UAE, Assad regime agree on plans to enhance economic cooperation

The United Arab Emirates' economy ministry said on Sunday that the Gulf state and the Assad regime had agreed on future plans to enhance economic cooperation and explore new sectors.

The ministry wrote on Twitter that the value of non-oil trade between the two countries in the first half of 2021 was one billion dirhams ($272 million).

The UAE re-opened its mission to Damascus in late 2018 in a bid to counter the influence of non-Arab actors like Iran, which along with Russia backs the bloody-minded regime ringleader Bashar al-Assad.