Dr. Fouad Isa Al Jouni, Minister of Industry

Sunday 11th September 2006 - Industry is a key sector for the development of Syria. The sector is undergoing major changes at the moment with the opening up of the economy; In that context, what are the main challenges for the Ministry of Industry?

The fact that the Syrian economy is changing into a market economy puts us in front of lots of challenges the Public Industrial sector and has to overcome its weakness. We have to do our best to get rid of the obstacles. For example, the production lines & machines are very old in most companies and suffer lots of defects, which leads to low quality products and productivity reduction. We also have a lack of skillful human resources, due to changing environment, especially in the marketing field. Scientific and industrial research is very poor and limited. Our plan is to support and activate research centers in Syria considering the important role they can play in the industrial development;

Can you give us a general overview of the sector of Industry and its subsectors?

The Ministry of Industry is the supervising authority on both the public and private industrial sectors. Within the public sector we supervise 8 organizations specialized in the following fields: Textile – Cement – Engineering – Food Industry - Chemical industry – Sugar industry- Tobacco – Cotton ginning & Marketing.

In addition to those we overlook the Industrial testing & research center, which main function is to do the testing of raw materials and also, the final product, especially for the Textile & Engineering industries;

The following institutions are also under the authority of the Ministry of Industry: Syrian Arab Standardization & Metrology Organization; Management Development & Productivity Center, Rehabilitation &Vocational training Center.

The private sector is taking more and more importance in the sector; How is it going to affect the public companies that fall under your responsibility? What future do you see for those companies?

One of the most important objectives of the 10th Five Years Plan is to restructure the industrial public sector and to reevaluate the less profitable companies trying to find solutions through investment or joint venture projects. The non profitable companies will gradually be closed. We are also trying to develop “Public-Private partnerships”.

The Syrian economy is opening up; Do you think Syria is ready to compete internationally? The textile subsector is going to be greatly affected by the competition from the Far East. what is the Ministry doing to support the sector?

Most of our public companies are not ready to compete with their private counterparts, and we are working very hard to make them competitive locally and internationally, especially in the textile sub sector as we have many gainer Textile & Yarn companies. However, we still have to reduce the production costs as the price of raw cotton & yarns is very high, and to apply the international standards in order to produce high quality products. We are fully aware of our weaknesses which is why we are seeking to develop Public-Private partnerships and combines forces to become more competitive internationally.

What are the main plans and projects of the Ministry of Industry over the next 5 years?

Over the next years, we are seeking to fully restructure the Ministry of Industry and its sub-ordinate institutions/ Companies; this restraucturing will raise the question of the state – owned companies that suffering from loss or marginal profit. We will also set up an Industrial Development Fund for SMEs and participate in the establishment of new Industrial Cities and the establishment of Industrial Sectoral Federations.

Last but not least, the Ministry will take a crutial part in initiating the Industrial Modernization Projec which aims at developing the competitiveness and productivity (concentrating on the textile sector);

What would be your final message to our readers?

Syria is opening its doors for all investors to establish their own projects individually or through joint venture projects, and the way is also been paved for investments in other sectors than the industrial.