Syria’s first steps towards free markets

The question that everyone will want to ask about Syria is this: do recent economic reforms amount to a new dawn? I, for one, think that they do. This last year has seen a very important change of mood and direction with the arrival on the scene of the new young president, Dr Bashar Al-Assad. While there may be some in Syria for whom change is unwelcome and to be resisted, there can be no doubt of the president’s commitment to modernize and reform every aspect of his country or of his eagerness to attract foreign investment and technological know-how.