2,600 plants operate in the industrial complexes of Adra near Damascus; Hassieh, in the Homs province, and Sheikh Najjar, in Aleppo, providing at least 130,000 jobs, the minister said after a cabinet meeting.

Makhlouf revealed that 4,200 large and small factories are currently under construction thanks to the facilities offered to investors, in particular the investments that respond to the national program of substitution of imported products for domestic ones.

According to recent statements by the Syrian Minister of Industry, Ziad Sabbagh, 80 percent of the state facilities in the sector resumed the production after undergoing a reconstruction process.

There are currently 137,000 small and large factories in the country, of which 87,000 are active and 50,000 stopped working for different reasons due to the war and the blockade.

pgh/llp/mem/fm