Antonio Tajani says Italy wants to serve as a bridge between Damascus and the European Union.
Published On 10 Jan 2025
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has held talks with Syria’s new rulers and called for talks on easing European Union sanctions imposed on the previous government of Bashar al-Assad.
Tajani met Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus on Friday, saying that sanctions imposed after al-Assad’s crackdown on antigovernment protests that triggered the country’s 13-year civil war “absolutely must not hit the Syrian population”.
“They were imposed because there was a different regime. It’s important to open discussions on the changed situation,” he said, refering to last month’s opposition takeover of the country, led by al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham armed group, which brought al-Assad’s rule to an abrupt end.
Tajani said Italy wanted to help Syria recover from civil war and rebuild its broken economy, serving as a bridge between Damascus and the EU.
“The Mediterranean can no longer just be a sea of death, a cemetery of migrants but a sea of commerce a sea of development,” he said.
Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Damascus, said the meeting with al-Sharaa was “quite significant.”
“[It] gives you a sense that the international community recognises the fact that this new administration is a new reality, and they would like to do busines