By Timour Azhari and Maya Gebeily
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syria’s finance minister, foreign minister and central bank chief are planning to attend the annual spring meetings held by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington, D.C. this month, four sources familiar with the plans said.
It would be the first visit to the meetings by a high-level Syrian government delegation in at least two decades, and the first high-level visit by Syria’s new authorities to the U.S. since former President Bashar al-Assad was toppled in December.
Two of the sources told Reuters it was unclear whether Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani, Finance Minister Mohammed Yosr Bernieh and Central Bank Governor Abdelkader Husrieh had yet received visas to the United States.
Spokespeople for the IMF, World Bank, Syrian foreign ministry and Syrian presidency did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The other two sources said a high-level meeting focused on reconstruction efforts for Syria could be held on the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank meetings.
Syria has been ravaged by nearly 14 years of a war that was sparked by a deadly crackdown on protests against Assad, with much of the country’s infrastructure left in ruins.
The Islamist-led government that took over after Assad was ousted has sought to rebuild Syria’s ties in the region and further afield, and to win support for reconstruction efforts.
But tough U.S. sanctions imposed during Assad’s rule remain in place. In January, the U.S. issued a six-month exemption for some sanctions to encourage humanitarian aid, but this has had limited effect. Reuters reported in February that efforts to bring in foreign financing to pay public sector salaries had been hampered by uncertainty over whether this could breach U.S. sanctions.
Last month the U.S. gave Syria a list of conditions to fulfill in exchange for partial sanctions relief but the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has otherwise engaged little with the country’s new rulers.
That is in part due to differing views in Washington on how to approach Syria. Some White House officials have been keen to take a more hardline stance, pointing to the new Syrian leadership’s former ties to Al-Qaeda as reason to keep engagement to a minimum, according to diplomats and U.S. sources.
(Reporting by Timour Azhari and Maya Gebeily; Editing by Jan Harvey and Frances Kerry)
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