Syria’s finance minister over the weekend met with officials from the US Treasury, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, as Damascus seeks to accelerate its post-conflict economic recovery and reintegration into the global financial system.  

What happened: Syrian Finance Minister Mohammad Yasser Barniyeh led a Syrian delegation to Washington for a series of meetings at the 2025 Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund held Oct. 13-18. 

On Saturday, Barniyeh held talks with the US Treasury’s Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Eric Meyer. According to a statement from Barniyeh on Sunday, discussions centered on Syria's economic reforms, strengthening Syria’s public finance capacity and potential areas of cooperation between the two sides. Barniyeh, alongside Syrian Central Bank governor Abdulkader Husrieh, also met with Anna Morris, the acting assistant secretary of the Treasury for terrorist financing. Just last month, Morris met with Syrian Foreign Affairs Minister Asaad al-Shibani.  

Barniyeh also met on Saturday with World Bank Managing Director of Operations Anna Bjerde, the bank’s Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa Ousmane Dione, and several sector managers.