India's first outreach to Syria after Assad fall: MEA official meets ministers in Damascus

Indian Express

7 days ago

In its first official outreach to the new dispensation in Syria since the fall of the Assad regime last year, India has sent a senior official to Damascus to meet with ministers in the transitional government led by Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa.
An Indian delegation led by M Suresh Kumar, Joint Secretary in charge of West Asia and North Africa Department at the Ministry of External Affairs, met Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Asaad Al-Shaibani on Monday, according to Syrian news agency SANA. Kumar was earlier India's charge d'affaires at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, Pakistan.
'Talks during the meeting dealt with issues of mutual concern and ways of enhancing relations between the two countries in the interests of both peoples,' SANA reported, quoting a Syrian Foreign ministry statement.
The Indian delegation also held discussions with Syrian Health Minister Musab Al-Ali on Monday.
Sources said the focus of the dialogue was on enhancing collaboration in health care, particularly in 'pharmaceutical manufacturing and medical training'.
Both sides also deliberated on the implementation of a 'scholarship program for Syrian students' and the development of a 'specialised engineering cooperation initiative tailored for Syrian government employees'.
According to SANA, Al-Ali emphasised Syria's keenness to build a lasting partnership with India in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors and noted it would strengthen the country's national health system and improve the availability of essential medicines.
Kumar reaffirmed New Delhi's commitment to support Syria through funding specialised training programs for Syrian professionals. He also said India would continue coordinating the training of Syrian doctors at Indian institutions while fostering deeper collaboration in nursing, pharmaceuticals and drug exports.
India had strong and robust ties with the Assad regime — led primarily by Hafez al-Assad and then his son Bashar al-Assad — for more than five decades until last December, when al-Sharaa led a rebel coalition to overthrow the Bashar al-Assad regime and took over as the country's leader.
According to officials, India has been monitoring the situation after the departure of Bashar al-Assad on 8 December 2024. In the immediate aftermath of the political change in Syria, India carried out the evacuation of 77 Indian nationals from Syria on 10-11 December 2024.
On December 9, India had called for a 'peaceful and inclusive Syrian-led political process' which respects the interests and aspirations of all sections of Syrian society. It was India's first statement since Bashar al-Assad's fall.
'We hope that the new constitution, due to be drafted, takes into account the interests of all the sections of the Syrian society,' an Indian official said.
Syria adopted a new interim constitution on March 13. The country is expected to hold its first parliamentary election under the al-Sharaa administration in September.
Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor at The Indian Express, has been a journalist for more than 25 years now. Roy joined The Indian Express in October 2003 and has been reporting on foreign affairs for more than 17 years now. Based in Delhi, he has also led the National government and political bureau at The Indian Express in Delhi — a team of reporters who cover the national government and politics for the newspaper. He has got the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award for Excellence in Journalism '2016. He got this award for his coverage of the Holey Bakery attack in Dhaka and its aftermath. He also got the IIMCAA Award for the Journalist of the Year, 2022, (Jury's special mention) for his coverage of the fall of Kabul in August 2021 — he was one of the few Indian journalists in Kabul and the only mainstream newspaper to have covered the Taliban's capture of power in mid-August, 2021. ... Read More