Global Relations Forum: Ankara Roundtable on Syria

A senior Gulfsands delegation, including Senior Adviser Sir Alan Duncan KCMG, CEO John Bell and CFO Andrew Morris were delighted to attend a fascinating roundtable meeting in Ankara, Türkiye last week, to explore what can be done to improve the horrendous economic and humanitarian situation in Syria.

The event was hosted by former Ambassadors Ömer Önhon and Selim Yenel of the Global Relations Forum GİFGRF and attended by over 22 distinguished participants with diverse backgrounds and perspectives, including from academia and think tanks, government officials, media and business.

The roundtable was entitled “Prospects for Improving Economic Conditions in Syria” and focused on the current situation and its impact on Syrians – both those in-country and the millions of refugees in neighbouring states. It considered the different approaches taken by members of the international community to the Syria crisis in an attempt to find some common ground, and discussed how early recovery efforts could be implemented while the political situation is still being resolved.

Gulfsands was honoured to present its humanitarian and economic stimulus initiative, Project Hope, whereby international energy companies would return to operations in northeast Syria, with allocated revenues from oil sales disbursed, under international oversight, to finance early recovery, humanitarian, health, economic (including youth employment), environmental and security projects across the country – for the benefit of all Syrian people. Project Hope is designed to be in line with UNSCR 2254 and to allow all Syrian people to benefit from the country’s national resource endowment – and build self-sustainability and resilience for the future.

We were delighted to be given the opportunity to present our ideas and receive valuable feedback from the esteemed participants.

Our sincere thanks to Ambassador Önhon and the Global Relations Forum for the fantastic and insightful event.

To read more about Project Hope, please visit https://gulfsands.com/media-hub/project-hope/