Doha: Syria and Turkiye signed a joint cooperation agreement on Thursday to develop and strengthen collaboration in the energy sector. The accord was finalized during an official meeting in Damascus between Syrian Energy Minister Muhammad Al Bashir and his Turkish counterpart Alparslan Bayraktar.
According to Qatar News Agency, Minister Al Bashir described the new agreement as inaugurating an advanced phase of the strategic partnership between Damascus and Ankara in energy. He explained that it provides for operation of a 400 kV high-voltage power line running from Turkish territory into Syria. The line is expected to become operational by the end of this year, enabling transfer of up to 1,000 MW of electricity to Syria, thereby bolstering grid stability and increasing daily supply hours.
The agreement also calls for supplying Syria with two million cubic meters of natural gas per day starting in June. A pipeline linking Turkiye’s Kilis with Syria’s Aleppo will feed gas to power plants, helping to alleviate the country’s long-standing energy crisis. Al Bashir emphasized that this cooperation is the product of extensive technical consultations and political negotiations over recent months, noting Turkiye’s substantial support for vital projects in northern Syria that improved services and eased civilian hardship.
Looking ahead, the minister pointed to an almost-completed project to connect Turkiye’s Reyhanli with Harem in rural Idlib via a new line that will deliver 80 MW to Idlib, Aleppo, and Hama countryside. He also called on Turkish and Arab companies to enter the Syrian market and invest across the entire energy value chain, from oil and gas exploration to power-plant rehabilitation, refinery construction, and mining sector development, promising full facilitation by the Syrian Ministry of Energy.
Al Bashir further announced plans to activate new mining partnerships targeting phosphate and lithium deposits, with Turkish firms already expressing clear interest in exploration and development. He added that Syria seeks investment from neighboring countries to support this nascent sector.
For his part, Minister Bayraktar said the agreement responds to Syria’s reconstruction needs and that Turkish electricity and gas supplies will raise power-supply hours to 12 per day, an improvement expected to benefit all service and production sectors.