Informed sources revealed that President Ahmed al-Sharaa will participate in the upcoming G7 summit in France next month as a guest.
The sources told Reuters that an invitation to President al-Sharia to attend the summit was handed over to Syrian Finance Minister Mohammed Barnieh, who attended the group's financial talks earlier this week in Paris.
A Syrian source said Syria's participation in the talks would likely focus on the state's role as a "potential strategic hub for supply chains" after the Strait of Hormuz was closed.
The summit will be held from June 15 to 17 in the Evian-les-Bains region of southeastern France, and will be Syria's first participation in the summit since its establishment in 1975.
Meeting of Finance Ministers of the Group of Industrialized Countries
Syrian Finance Minister Yousser Bernia recently participated in the meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors of the Group of Seven industrialized countries (G7) in Paris, at the invitation of the French presidency of the group, in the presence of the President of the World Bank and the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund.
The Ministry of Finance explained in a publication on its official identifiers that Minister Barnieh reviewed, in a closed session, the financial reforms that the Syrian state is working on and the current challenges, stressing the keenness to enhance Syria's integration into the global economic and financial system, and to provide the appropriate environment to attract investments and achieve sustainable development.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the participants welcomed the efforts of the Syrian state and their support for the ongoing reforms under the leadership of President Al-Sharia, stressing their keenness on the stability of Syria and the success of its reconstruction and development, as the President of the World Bank and the Director of the International Monetary Fund praised the ongoing financial reforms in Syria, and the good cooperation with the Syrian authorities.
What is the Group of Seven
The Group of Seven (G-7) is not an international organization, but an informal forum established in 1975 that includes the world's leading industrialized nations, namely the United States of America, the United Kingdom, France, West Germany, Italy, Canada, and Japan.
The first summit of this organization was held in 1975 when six countries (the United States, the United Kingdom, France, West Germany, Italy and Japan) came together to exchange ideas and possible solutions to the global economic crisis, and the following year Canada joined the group.
In 1977, the President of the European Commission joined the discussions, and starting in 1994, Russia also joined the discussions, and the group became known as the Group of Eight (G8) or the "Political Group of Eight".
In 2014, Russia's membership in the group was suspended indefinitely due to its annexation of Crimea, effectively dissolving the G8.
The G7 population accounts for only about 10 percent of the world's population, but they produce about 45 percent of the world's gross national income, and ministers and civil servants from the G7 countries attend the summit throughout the year to discuss common affairs and interests.
Each of the G7 countries holds the presidency of the organization for one year on a rotating basis, and the G7 presidency hosts the two-day annual summit, with energy policy, climate change, HIV/AIDS and global security among many other issues discussed at the summit.