RIYADH/DAMASCUS - Saudi Arabia and Qatar announced Sunday in a joint statement that they will jointly settle Syria's overdue payments to the World Bank Group totaling $15 million to support Syria's economic recovery.
According to a report by the Saudi Press Agency, the decision followed discussions at a recent high-level roundtable on Syria on the sidelines of the 2025 World Bank/International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings in Washington, DC.
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The decision will allow the World Bank to restart support and operations in Syria after a 14-year suspension, enabling funding for critical sectors and technical support for institutional rebuilding and policy reforms, among others.
Kurdish call rejected
Separately, the new Syrian administration on Sunday rejected a recent major Kurdish conference's call for a "decentralized" Syrian state.
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"We clearly reject any attempts to impose a divisive reality or establish separate entities under the guise of federalism or self-administration without comprehensive national consensus," reads a statement issued by the Syrian leader's office.
"The unity of Syria, both its territory and its people, is a red line, and any transgression thereof constitutes a departure from the national unity and an attack on Syria's unified identity," it reads. It accused the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) of disrupting the work of Syrian state institutions in areas under the SDF's control.
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On Saturday, the "Conference for Kurdish Unity in Rojava Kurdistan," which brought together over 400 figures from Kurdish-controlled areas, concluded in the northeastern city of Qamishli with the release of a final statement calling for resolving the Kurdish issue within a democratic, decentralized Syrian state.
The statement urged constitutional guarantees for Kurdish rights, respect for human rights conventions, and full participation of women in all institutions. It also announced the decision to form a joint Kurdish delegation to engage in dialogue with the new Syrian administration and national forces to implement the adopted vision.
