The ninth Brussels Conference of Donors on Syria was held on March 17, 2025, organized by the European Union, with the aim of mobilizing international support for a comprehensive and peaceful transfer process in Syria, and meeting the humanitarian needs of Syrians inside the country and in the countries hosting refugees.
The conference was attended by the Syrian Foreign Minister, Asaad Al -Shaibani, the first time that Syria has been officially represented in this annual event.
Al -Shaibani affirmed the Syrian state’s commitment to work with partners in the humanitarian field to ensure that aid has reached its beneficiaries, and called on the donor countries to contribute effectively to the reconstruction efforts and support sustainable development projects.
The total pledges submitted by the participants in the conference amounted to 5.8 billion euros (6.3 billion dollars), of which 4.2 billion euros (4.56 billion dollars) as grants, 1.6 billion euros (1.74 billion dollars) as soft loans, and the European Union and its member states bear 80% of the total grants provided, and this makes it the largest donor to support Syria.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Line, announced that the European Union will undertake 2.5 billion euros (2.71 billion dollars) to support the Syrians inside Syria and in the countries of asylum during 2025 and 2026.
It should be noted that the aid provided will be implemented through international agencies and humanitarian organizations, without the intervention of the Syrian government, in order to ensure effective and transparent aid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vrujdlxeeu
Decrease in obligations
The Brussels Conference witnessed a decline in the financial pledges of Syria compared to previous years. Last year, the conference presented pledges of 7.5 billion euros (8.15 billion dollars), and this year the European Union pledged to provide about 5 billion euros (5.43 billion dollars).
“The support provided by the Brussels Conference was expected to be the nucleus of rebuilding the infrastructure of the sewage and sanitation, rebuilding and structuring state institutions, and attracting refugees,” Yunus Al -Karim, an expert in the Syrian economy, told Al -Jazeera Net.
For his part, economist Osama Al -Qadi believes in a statement to Al -Jazeera Net, that the grants announced at the Brussels Conference are good and acceptable, given that the Syrian share amounts to about $ 2.5 billion of aid that will be supervised by international organizations and the Syrian government.
The judge says that a section of aid will be distributed to countries that embrace Syrian refugees in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, which had the largest share of grants.
Osama Al -Qadi indicates that the countries that made financial pledges at the conference are not obligated to pay, and the value of the pledges paid by 60% of the declared number may not exceed.
The judge notes that part of the financial pledges go in the form of administrative and operational expenses for United Nations organizations that will supervise the distribution of aid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_obdlktau4
Reasons for low grants
The researcher Hassan Al -Marwan says that the actual expected value of 2025 may not exceed 3.48 billion euros (3.78 billion dollars), and this number will also be exposed to further reduction when calculating the shares allocated to the host countries, as it will be provided to Turkey alone approximately one billion euros (1.08 billion dollars).
Al -Marwan tells Al -Jazeera Net that the small amount will be distributed in 3 main areas, which limits its actual impact on the economy:
- The human sectorIt includes emergency relief financing, such as food saving, health care, shelter, and clean water, which keeps focusing on basic needs without investing in development projects.
- The legal fieldPart of the financing will be devoted to transitional justice programs, citizenship, and democracy.
- The military side: Part of the funding to monitor chemical weapons will be devoted, and this means that part of the available resources is drained in regulatory and security issues instead of directing it towards building infrastructure or stimulating the economy.
The researcher, Hassan Al -Marwan, refers to the great challenges related to the delivery of these funds to Syria due to the US sanctions imposed on the Syrian Central Bank.
Al -Marwan emphasizes the United States’ refusal to provide financial support, although it was one of the largest donors at the Brussels Conference, and in the previous year, about 1.2 billion dollars in the previous year, as one of the important reasons for the decrease in the grants provided.
The US administration decided this year to reassess its foreign aid, and this led to the absence of American funding and contributed significantly to a decrease in total pledges.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wpexyuva78
Political messages
The judge says that the European Union countries and other countries have tried to send important political messages to the new Syrian government through the Brussels Conference.
Through their speeches, all parties to the meeting stressed the necessity of lifting sanctions on Syria and supporting the transitional government.
In this regard, Hassan Al -Marwan believes that the United States refraining from providing any financial support was a clear political message to Syria.
As for Yunus Al -Karim, he believes that the recent events in the coast affected the positions of donor countries, so some European Union countries have shown reservations that led them to reconsider the financing plans submitted to Syria.
Financial partnership
The judge believes that it was necessary for the Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al -Shaibani to ask European countries to join Syria on the SIPA system or the unified European payment area, a European system that aims to facilitate payment and financial transfers between member states of the European Union and some other countries, such as Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Norway, using the euro.
This system allows individuals and companies to make euro bank transfers with the same ease and cost as if they were inside the country itself, at low prices.
Syria’s accession to this system would facilitate the conduct of commercial operations and transfer in the euro from the European Union and the United Kingdom to the Syrian Central Bank easily, according to Yunus Al -Karim, who warns that Syria has become on the threshold of a food crisis, because the aid that comes from the Brussels Conference does not meet the ambition of the Syrians, and is still far from meeting the needs of the Syrian people.
Media sources stated that Germany – one of the largest supporters of the Syrian file – provided 300 million dollars as food and health aid, and covers only 30% of the monthly cost of the food bill, and this leaves the gap a big gap on the rest of the conference countries covering it, which is very worrying, especially with the difficult economic and political conditions in Syria.
Here, Al -Karim says: “If we focus only on those who are in the state of food insecurity, the amount covers their needs if the newly joined the category of food insecurity, due to economic crises, the layoff of a large number of state employees, stops business, and change the place of individuals.”
