Syria's finance minister meets German Charge d’affairs in Damascus

Syrian Finance Minister Mohammed Abazeed met with Germany’s temporary representative in Syria Bjorn Gehrmann on Wednesday, in the first such meeting of a European Union official since Islamist rebels seized power from the Assad regime last year.

The meeting comes days after the European Union agreed on a roadmap to ease its sanctions.

“We hope that the image Germany had of Syria before December 8 will change,” Abazeed told Gehrmann at the beginning of the meeting.

“It’s a pleasure to be here in the new Syria after almost 13 years of absence,” Gehrmann responded.

“We’re now in the process of reestablishing our diplomatic presence in Damascus… we have a couple of questions and a couple of messages that I would like to discuss with you today in order to start our diplomatic relations, also on the financial matters.”

EU governments want to help kickstart Syria’s recovery.

But many have also stressed that the EU should take a gradual and reversible approach to retain leverage as it encourages the new authorities in Damascus to implement inclusive policies.

Reuters