Aug 14, 2017

The Damascus International Fair, the top event on pre-war Syria's economic calendar, is making a comeback this week after a five-year absence with western companies among participants from 23 countries.

Organisers say firms from Britain, France and Germany will exhibit their goods and services in a private capacity, with their countries having severed relations with President Bashar al-Assad's Syria.

"Countries with a hostile attitude towards Syria have not been invited," Fares al-Kartally, the fair's general director, told AFP.

"But at the same time we've not expressed reservations over any company expressing an interest in taking part in the fair either directly or through Syrian mediators," he said, without naming them.

The Damascus trade fair, which dates back to 1954, making it the oldest in the Arab world, opens this year on Thursday and runs for 10 days.