00:00Ahmed al-Sharah has met with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House.
00:04The Syrian leader pledged to join a U.S.-led coalition to defeat the Islamic State.
00:10U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also suspended comprehensive sanctions on Syria for 180 days.
00:17Trump described al-Sharah as a tough leader while hinting further announcements could be coming soon.
00:25Yeah, you can expect some announcements on Syria.
00:27We want to see Syria become a country that's very successful, and I think this leader can do it.
00:33I really do. I think this leader can do it.
00:37Joining us now is Paul Wallace, Bloomberg's managing editor for Economy and Government in the Middle East and Africa.
00:43Paul, thanks for joining us.
00:44So it seems like this is relatively a positive situation for Syria to walk away from the White House on Monday.
00:51Walk us through some of the other announcements that we heard on Monday.
00:54So ostensibly he was there to ensure that Syria joined a global and U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition.
01:05That was sort of the main reason for me for him to be there.
01:08But obviously the sanctions relief and that 180-day waiver was very important for Syria.
01:16It's a country that's been under decades of very, very strong sanctions from the U.S., European countries and others.
01:26And Syria's desperate for them to be or be lifted to help rehabilitate a country that's just been devastated by, you know, more than 15 years of civil war.
01:36So that was very important for Ahmed al-Shara.
01:40And symbolically, too, you know, yes, he's met Trump before yesterday.
01:45He'd met Trump twice this year.
01:48But, I mean, this is a guy that had a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head because of, just a year ago, because of his former links to al-Qaeda.
01:59So it's quite a stunning turnaround.
02:04Especially if we consider some of the international trips that he's been on as well, Paul.
02:09What's the likelihood, though, we'll see some definitive announcements potentially leading to, you know, supporting serious efforts to rebuild in the country?
02:19So far, I think we've sort of seen a drip feed, mostly from states like Qatar.
02:26There's been a little bit from Turkey.
02:30Turkey is arguably the country that's sort of closest to al-Shara and has the most influence on him.
02:38But beyond Qatar, there's also Saudi Arabia.
02:40But there's been nothing, no sort of wave of FDI announcements or no sort of wave of funding announcements.
02:48And I think a big reason of that, a big reason for that is these sanctions.
02:52You know, Syria is still under U.S. sanctions.
02:54And for all that 180-day waiver, the Caesar Act, which is a deep and wide-ranging set of sanctions on Syria, it still exists.
03:04And, you know, I guess a lot of would-be investors and others will think, well, until the Caesar Act is repealed entirely
03:11and not just given, you know, and not just given a waiver, then they're going to be very reluctant to put their money into the country.
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