Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani is scheduled to meet with high-ranking officials from the U.S. State Department later today in New York, according to two sources familiar with the situation. He aims to urge Washington for a definitive plan regarding permanent sanctions relief for Syria.
Shibani is currently in the United States for discussions at the United Nations, where he displayed the three-star flag representing Syria’s uprising, marking 14 years since the onset of the war. This meeting marks the first occasion that U.S. officials and Shibani are convening on American soil, following Syria’s recent response to a set of conditions proposed by Washington for potential partial sanctions relief.
The State Department has not yet provided a comment on this matter. Last month, the United States presented Syria with a list of eight conditions that it expects Damascus to meet, which includes the destruction of any remaining chemical weapons and the assurance that foreign nationals will not hold senior government positions.
Reuters was the first to report that Natasha Francheschi, the deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, delivered this list to Shibani during an in-person meeting at a Syria donor conference in Brussels on March 18.
Syria is in urgent need of sanctions relief to revitalize an economy devastated by 14 years of conflict, during which the U.S., Britain, and Europe imposed stringent sanctions to pressure former president Bashar al-Assad. In January, the U.S. granted a six-month exemption for certain sanctions to facilitate aid, but this has had limited impact. Damascus is eager to receive a realistic timeline from the United States regarding permanent sanctions relief, as noted by one of the sources.
