Syria's IMAR 2026 Closes With $1.7B in Contracts, 412 MoUs
The second Damascus reconstruction exhibition produced 3,200 contracts and 412 memoranda of understanding, its organizer said, with a $300 million roads deal among the largest.
Tariq Benali Tariq Benali covers business and corporate news across the UAE and MENA for Anecdoted, tracking the deals, leadership moves and regulatory shifts behind the region's companies. tariq@anecdoted.com
The second IMAR exhibition in Damascus closed Wednesday with 3,200 contracts signed and a combined value above $1.7 billion, according to the event's organizer. Participants also recorded 412 memoranda of understanding. The deals touched construction, infrastructure, industry and services.
Effect Plus for Exhibitions and Conferences, which organized the show, said the number and value of agreements reflected widening local, regional and international interest in Syrian reconstruction investment. The exhibition opened Sunday at the Damascus Fairgrounds and brought together 356 companies from 27 countries. Its program focused on investment opportunities in energy, industry, construction and infrastructure.
The largest single contract came from Saudi Arabia. Al-Rawaf Contracting Co. committed $300 million to roads and infrastructure work.
Cement supply agreements between Al-Hassan Holding Group and Al-Jouf Cement totaled $72 million. The Syrian Arab News Agency reported the arrangement on Thursday. Effect Plus said the agreement is ready for implementation and counts among the first IMAR 2026 projects to move from signature to execution.
Advanced Technical Systems Co. signed a $15 million contract for a water purification and pumping station. Thara Real Estate Development Co. concluded supply contracts for its Sham View residential project in Damascus, drawing on providers of infrastructure, construction materials and finishing.
IMAR 2026 was held under the patronage of the Ministry of Economy and Industry, the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Local Administration and Environment, the Syrian Investment Agency, the Federation of Syrian Chambers of Commerce and joint Syrian business councils.
The first IMAR, staged in October 2025, drew 260 companies from 23 countries. The second edition added close to a hundred exhibitors and four more countries to that base, which gives the organizer's read on regional interest a concrete reference point rather than a slogan.
Finance Minister Mohammed Yisr Barnieh said Syria is offering investment opportunities across many sectors, and that the government is strengthening its legislative and regulatory framework to attract investors. The goal, he said, is to turn those opportunities into projects that can actually be built.
Agriculture Minister Basel al-Suwaidan said reviving the farm sector sits at the center of Syria's economic recovery. He urged investors and business councils to put agricultural projects near the top of their lists.
