Talks in Bangkok
Syrian Minister of Finance Mohammad Yusr Barnieh and Central Bank of Syria Governor Safwat Raslan held talks with two senior officials of the United States (US) Department of the Treasury on 14 October 2026, on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Bangkok.
The US side was represented by Jonathan Greenstein, Deputy Under Secretary for International Financial Affairs, and Eric Meyer, Deputy Assistant Secretary responsible for Africa, the Middle East, and multilateral development bank operations.
Building on New York
The session continued a dialogue that began at a roundtable held on 23 September 2026 at the United Nations headquarters in New York, convened under the title Investing in Syria's Recovery: Coordinating Support for Financial Sector Transformation.
Both delegations described the Bangkok discussions as having produced substantial results, and said they had agreed to hold meetings more frequently and to widen the areas of cooperation between them.
Reform Priorities
The talks centered on support for reforming Syria's financial and banking sector, with particular attention to financial integrity and to measures against money laundering and the financing of terrorism. These areas sit at the core of the reform agenda the government has put forward.
The two sides also reviewed Syria's economic and financial performance, the outlook for recovery against a backdrop of global economic shocks, and policies intended to create employment.
Reconnecting the Financial Sector
US officials acknowledged the progress Syria has made on financial reform. The engagement forms part of a wider effort to reconnect the Syrian financial sector with international institutions and to coordinate outside support for its transformation.
By attending the Bangkok meetings, Syria's monetary and fiscal authorities sat alongside the leadership of the world's principal financial bodies over a single week, at a time when the government is seeking external financing and technical support for its recovery. The two delegations said they would keep the channel open through more frequent contacts.