Lebanese businessmen were invited on Thursday to take part in the reconstruction of neighboring Syria where six years of war have caused tens of billions of dollars worth of destruction.
At a conference in Beirut also attended by Lebanese and Syrian officials, they were briefed on the third annual edition of a reconstruction fair to held in Damascus in September.
Lebanese Industry Minister Hussein Hajj Hassan, a member of the pro-Damascus Shiite movement Hezbollah, said he attended in a private capacity.
He wanted to encourage “Lebanese companies and investors to keep up their contacts with the Syrian public and private sectors to have their place in the reconstruction of Syria”.
Lebanon’s ports in Beirut and Tripoli as well as the several border crossings with Syria would play a major role, he said.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last year estimated that the war which broke out in his country in March 2011 had cost more than $200 billion in damages.
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