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Table of Content
Sr.
No.
Particular Page
No.
1. Country Introduction 1
2. Economic View 23. Doing Business Rank 3
4. Investment Environment 4
5. Porters National Diamond for Pharmaceutical Industry 6
6. References 8
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1. Country Introduction
A country of fertile plains, high mountains and deserts, it is home to diverse ethnic and religious groups,
including Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, Christians, Druze, Alawite Shia and Arab Sunnis, the last of who make
up a majority of the Muslim population.
Politics: Political power, long held by a small mainly Alawite elite, is being hotly contested in a civil warinitially inspired by the Arab Spring Economy: The under-performing state-run economy has been hard hit by the conflict International: Syria has become a battleground for competing interests in the Middle East, in particular
between the Gulf monarchies and pro-government Iran
Demographic profile Ethnic groups: Arab 90.3%, Kurds, Armenians, and other 9.7% Languages: Arabic (official), Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian (widely understood); French,
English (somewhat understood)
Religions: Sunni Muslim (Islam - official) 74%, other Muslim (includes Alawite, Druze) 16%, Christian(various denominations) 10%, Jewish (tiny communities in Damascus, Al Qamishli, and Aleppo)At a glance
Full name: The Syrian Arab Republic Population: 21.1 million (UN, 2012) Capital: Damascus Area: 185,180 sq km (71,498 sq miles) Life expectancy: 74 years (men), 78 years (women) (UN) Monetary unit: 1 Syrian pound = 100 piastres Main exports: Oil, gas GNI per capita: US $2,750 (World Bank, 2010) Internet domain: .sy International dialing code: +963
Political System: Republic under an authoritarian regime
President Bashar al-ASAD Vice President Farouk al-SHARA Vice President Najah al-ATTAR Prime Minister Wael al-HALQI
Legal System Mixed legal system of civil and Islamic law (for family courts) It has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; non-party state.
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2. Economic View
GDP: $73.67 billion (2012 est.)
GDP Composition (2012 est.)
Agriculture: 18.1% (wheat, barley, cotton, lentils, chickpeas, olives, sugar beets; beef, mutton, eggs, poultry,
milk)
Industries: 25.3% (petroleum, pharmaceuticals, textiles, food processing, beverages, tobacco, phosphate rock
mining, cement, oil seeds crushing, car assembly)
Services: 56.6% (Banking, Telecom)
Exports
$4.981 billion (2012 est.) $10.29 billion (2011 est.) crude oil, minerals, petroleum products, fruits and vegetables, cotton fiber, textiles, clothing, meat and
live animals, wheat
Iraq 38.8%, Italy 7.9%, Germany 7.1%, Saudi Arabia 6.5%, Kuwait 4.2% Natural Resources: petroleum, phosphates, chrome and manganese ores, asphalt, iron ore, rock salt,
marble, gypsum, hydropower
Imports
$10.01 billion (2012 est.) $17.6 billion (2011 est.) machinery and transport equipment, electric power machinery, food and livestock, metal and meta
products, chemicals and chemical products, plastics, yarn, paper
Saudi Arabia 14.8%, China 10.3%, UAE 7.3%, Turkey 6.8%, Iran 5.4%, Italy 5.1%, Russia 4.6%, Iraq 4.4%
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3. Doing Business Rank: 144
In the above diagram, we can see that cost of doing business in Syria is lesser compared to the region average.
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4. Investment Environment
Sr.
No.Particular
Detail
1
Free Trade
Agreement
/ Most
Favored
Nation
Syria had developed regional FTA & MFN agreement, which have beenlargely suspended as trading partners seek to express disapproval of the
Syrian regimes violence against protesters
GAFTA-Greater Arab Free Trade Agreement - January 2005 - customsduties were eliminated between Syria and all other members of GAFTA
(17 Countries)
Turkey January 2007 - compromised by retaliatory steps by bothparties, given Turkeys reaction to the Asad regimes violent response to
the demonstrations
Syria is a signatory to free trade agreements with Jordan, India, Belarus,and Slovakia.
In 2004 Syria and the EU initialed an Association Agreement; theratification process had not been finalized as of March 2011, and the EUwithdrew its offer following the regimes crackdown on opposition and
imposition of EU sanctions.
2
Domestic
Laws
related to
Trade &
Foreign
Investment
Syria has profoundly changed its legislative and legal base in order toattract foreign investment.
The country has set up 8 free zones which allow different productionactivities and services in the industrial zones. GOFZ (General Organization
of Free Zone) has approved 4 more such plans
The government has also favored the development of industrial cities. Ithas created four new towns where an industrial complex is back to backwith a residential area. These centers are intended to occupy the space
between ancient and traditional urban areas.
Investment Law No 10
The exemption from duties and taxes on the import of a business'srequirements in setting up and running the project
Tax relief on the operations of joint stock companies for a period of 7years, other companies up to 5 years
The right to open an account in foreign currency at the Commercial Bankof Syria
The right to transfer in foreign currency out of Syria the net capitalinitially invested in the project
The annual transfer of profits and revenues in foreign currency The transfer abroad, in foreign currency, of 50% of expatriate workers'
earnings and 100% of any compensation awarded at the end of their
services
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3 FDI
Syria is committed to gradually opening its economy, moving from aclosed and centralized economy to a model approximating market
economy.
In a particularly difficult regional context, the country is trying to set upthe mechanism of a market economy in order to regain the trust of
foreign investors.
The Syrian economic-legal corpus has undergone extensive changes overthe past decade.
Structural reforms such as the renovation of the Commercial Code(2007), the Maritime Code (2008), the Finance Act (2004) or the Banking
Act of 2004 helped to phase out the model of planned economy, which
has been in force over decades.
No clear policy about the limit of the FDI is found
4
Trade
Statistics
Syria claimed a boom in non-oil exports prior to mid-2011, but its tradenumbers are notoriously inaccurate and out-of-date
Not highly dependent on one country to which it exports. (Iraq-18.85%,Germany-12.26%, Lebanon-9.69%, Italy-8.87%, France- 7.58%)
Highly dependent on crude oil (30.33%) for export so it is riskier as theirproduction is getting lower every year
Import product range is highly distributed
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5. Porters National Diamond for Pharmaceutical Industry
At the end of the 80ies, the pharmaceutical industry in Syria was very poor, covering only 6% of the nationa
needs. In less than 20 years, with the government support in terms of legal frame and strategic politica
engagement, the Syrian pharmaceutical industry finally covered almost 92% of the national needs, in terms of
drugs, and exported drugs in around56 markets worldwide, mostly Arab and African nations and some Asian
countries, with exports to European Union member states beginning more recently. Beyond covering the loca
market, the main added values of this huge development consisted in exporting drugs in amount of 150
million dollars per year. The number of pharmaceutical factories in Syria has reached 63, producing 5700 types
of products and offering jobs to about 17000 workers,out of which around 85% are women.
Syria has the largest number of pharmaceutical companies compared with any other Arab market, even
though its domestic market size is smaller than many others. Private capital inflows have increased
significantly in the last decade thanks to the involvement of several major industrial and trading groups in the
drug industry. The two largest cities in the country, Aleppo and Damascus host the largest industrial firms.
The Syrian pharmaceutical industry is producing good quality medicine based on international standards. The
provision of safe and effective medicines is based on the essential medicine list. The government goal is
monitoring the pharmaceuticals to ensure quality control. The results of quality control have been very good
however, the application of the national medicine policy and the rational use of medicines should be enforced
Factor Condition
63 manufacturing plants
Due to the intensive ongoing training and rehabilitation programs, there are a large number of qualified
workers with very high level of efficiency in the Pharmaceutical industry in Syria; over 25% of them are
university graduates. Also the learning level is in initial level so the government helps people to learn them
outside the country. And after getting the proper knowledge, they come back and serve their own country.
Also, The Medical City is to be built in the West Mazzeh area of Damascus. The project is estimated to be
around $112 million.
Demand conditions
The signing of an association agreement with the EU in 2010 is expected to further expand the pharmaceutica
market, which has become an increasingly vital export earner for the country.
Production has reached almost 600 million dollars; the local market consumes more than 400 million dollars
and the rest is sent for export.
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The industry has been stimulated by the special attention given to healthcare provision which has been
offered as a free service to Syrian citizens. Public spending on health has run at around 4.5% of GDP.
Also, a plan is being promoted for the production of generic drugs for cancer treatment, medicines related to
blood diseases, vaccines, etc., and to cover 98 99% of the Syrian health sector needs is being implemented
According to this plan, the abovementioned products will be manufactured locally.
Related and supporting industries
The firms are importing the major raw material. So the opportunity exists in the production of the raw
material for pharmaceutical product.
Disadvantages of this system might be the development and growth of the pharmaceutical industry is done
more horizontally than vertically; lack of attention to the production of the raw materials, which are still
imported from abroad; weak cooperation between Syrian pharmaceutical companies and weakness in the
pricing mechanisms.
Firm strategy, structure and rivalry
The industry has become more competitive gradually after 1980. Before that only 2 national firms were
present. But now the picture has changed. Already more than 63 firms are there and new competitors are
coming.
The challenge is reviewing the medicines pricing base in accordance with the international specifications and
within the moderate price range, elimination of foreign medicine, which are very expensive and helpingproducers to continue producing.
The pharmaceutical industry is really very concentrated.
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6. References
http://globaledge.msu.edu/countries/syria
http://www.globaltrade.net/international-trade-import-exports/m/c/Syria.html
http://globaledge.msu.edu/blog/post/1498/illegal-international-trade-in-antiquities
http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/syria/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syria
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14703856
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/syria/indicators
http://globaledge.msu.edu/countries/syriahttp://globaledge.msu.edu/countries/syriahttp://www.globaltrade.net/international-trade-import-exports/m/c/Syria.htmlhttp://www.globaltrade.net/international-trade-import-exports/m/c/Syria.htmlhttp://globaledge.msu.edu/blog/post/1498/illegal-international-trade-in-antiquitieshttp://globaledge.msu.edu/blog/post/1498/illegal-international-trade-in-antiquitieshttp://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/syria/http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/syria/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syriahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syriahttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14703856http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14703856http://www.tradingeconomics.com/syria/indicatorshttp://www.tradingeconomics.com/syria/indicatorshttp://www.tradingeconomics.com/syria/indicatorshttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14703856http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syriahttp://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/syria/http://globaledge.msu.edu/blog/post/1498/illegal-international-trade-in-antiquitieshttp://www.globaltrade.net/international-trade-import-exports/m/c/Syria.htmlhttp://globaledge.msu.edu/countries/syriaTop Related