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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/syria