Table of Content

Sr. No. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Particular Country Introduction Economic View Doing Business Rank Investment Environment Porters National Diamond for Pharmaceutical Industry References

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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 war initially 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 Vice President Vice President Prime Minister Bashar al-ASAD Farouk al-SHARA Najah al-ATTAR 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 metal 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 Free Trade Agreement / Most Favored Nation Syria had developed regional FTA & MFN agreement, which have been largely suspended as trading partners seek to express disapproval of the Syrian regimes violence against protesters GAFTA-Greater Arab Free Trade Agreement - January 2005 - customs duties were eliminated between Syria and all other members of GAFTA (17 Countries) Turkey January 2007 - compromised by retaliatory steps by both parties, given Turkeys reaction to the Asad regimes violent r esponse 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; the ratification process had not been finalized as of March 2011, and the EU withdrew its offer following the regimes crackdown on opposition and imposition of EU sanctions. Syria has profoundly changed its legislative and legal base in order to attract foreign investment. The country has set up 8 free zones which allow different production activities 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. It has created four new towns where an industrial complex is back to back with a residential area. These centers are intended to occupy the space between ancient and traditional urban areas.

Domestic Laws Investment Law No 10 related to The exemption from duties and taxes on the import of a business's Trade & requirements in setting up and running the project Foreign Tax relief on the operations of joint stock companies for a period of 7 Investment years, other companies up to 5 years The right to open an account in foreign currency at the Commercial Bank of Syria The right to transfer in foreign currency out of Syria the net capital initially 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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FDI

4 Trade Statistics

Syria is committed to gradually opening its economy, moving from a closed and centralized economy to a model approximating market economy. In a particularly difficult regional context, the country is trying to set up the mechanism of a market economy in order to regain the trust of foreign investors. The Syrian economic-legal corpus has undergone extensive changes over the 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 Syria claimed a boom in non-oil exports prior to mid-2011, but its trade numbers 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 their production 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 national needs. In less than 20 years, with the government support in terms of legal frame and strategic political engagement, the Syrian pharmaceutical industry finally covered almost 92% of the national needs, in terms of drugs, and exported drugs in around 56 markets worldwide, mostly Arab and African nations and some Asian countries, with exports to European Union member states beginning more recently. Beyond covering the local 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 pharmaceutical 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 helping producers 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

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