GO Telecom’s move to partner with Damascus comes after Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan announced on May 31, 2025, that the Kingdom, along with Qatar, would offer joint financial support to state employees in Syria.
Saudi Arabia’s GO Telecom has partnered with the government of Syria to rebuild and develop the country’s telecom sector. This agreement to bring modern infrastructure to Syria’s digital landscape marks one of the first private sector initiatives after sanctions from the West have softened.
Signed by Syrian Minister of Telecommunications Abdul Salam Haykal and GO Telecom CEO Yahya bin Saleh Al-Mansour, the agreement aims at modernising the older communications networks in Syria, which is a necessary step towards the country’s development.
This agreement highlights GO Telecom’s strategy to break into post-conflict markets through such infrastructure investments. In May, US President Donald Trump announced that sanctions on Syria would be lifted, with the EU soon following suit. This decision from the West was prompted by the government change in Damascus after longtime leader Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December. This marks a tectonic shift in the international community’s engagement with Syria.
Trump announced the sanctions relief during his visit to Saudi Arabia, calling it ‘a historic opportunity.’ The EU soon announced that it has geared up a legal route to relax economic sanctions but maintain those on security. With this move, 24 entities, including the Central Bank of Syria, were exempted from sanctions. The EU High Representative Kaja Kallas has pledged the bloc’s support for the country’s reconstruction and political transition.
For the past 14 years, Syria, which has been plagued by a civil war, sees this era as a new dawn. Minister of Social Affairs and Labour, Hind Kabawat, told the Associated Press that with the sanctions being lifted, the government can work on its top priorities, which include fighting corruption and facilitating the return of millions of Syrian refugees across the globe.
GO Telecom’s move to partner with Damascus comes after Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan announced on May 31, 2025, that the Kingdom, along with Qatar, would offer joint financial support to state employees in Syria. Although not many details were disclosed in the statement, this announcement was made a month after Syrian Finance Minister Mohammed Yosr Bernieh confirmed that Qatar would provide Damascus with $29 million every month for three months to pay civilian public sector workers’ salaries. The US has also reportedly approved of Doha’s initiative.
Both Saudi Arabia and Syria had previously discussed opportunities for bilateral financial cooperation, and Prince Faisal promised his country’s support to be one of Syria’s strongest allies in its path to reconstruction and economic recovery and development. During his visit to Syria, Prince Faisal, along with a high-level economic delegation from Riyadh, met with Syrian authorities to discuss opportunities for cooperation in various fields. Syria’s interim President, who leads the new government, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is keen to rebuild the country’s diplomatic ties with the rest of the world.
Arab News reported that both Qatar and Saudi Arabia underscored the necessity to improve living conditions and promote economic and social stability in Syria. The two countries also promised to settle Syria’s $15 million debt to the World Bank.
Damascus hopes that with the Western powers finally lifting sanctions, the international community will band together and help the country move ahead from the destruction of war. The civil war has crippled the country’s economy, infrastructure and industries. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) estimated that Syria’s ‘lost GDP’ during the war was approximately $800 billion.
GO Telecom’s new investment opportunity signals regional growth and cooperation. It is a step forward in the Gulf and the international community’s efforts to rebuild relations with Syria. Such an agreement could be the first of many initiated by both the public and private sectors to assist Syria in its efforts to rebuild its battered economy and infrastructural facilities after a decade-long period of conflict.
