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Syria may soon lease out Tartus seaport to Russia for 49 years - Russian deputy PM

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said that the decision to lease out the Syrian port to Russia had been taken at a session of the intergovernmental commission

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov Mikhail Tereshchenko/TASS

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov

© Mikhail Tereshchenko/TASS

DAMASCUS, April 20. /TASS/. Syria may soon lease out to Russia its seaport of Tartus for a term of 49 years for economic uses, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said on Saturday after his meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad.

In 2017, Moscow and Damascus signed an agreement on the deployment of a Russian navy logistics support center in Tartus for the term of 49 years.

"A key issue that is to yield positive dynamics is the one on the use of the port of Tartus. My visit has cemented all these agreements. We have made a considerable progress on that matter and hope that a contract will be signed within a week and the port of Tartus will be used by Russian businesses for 49 years," Borisov said.

He said that the decision to lease out the Syrian port to Russia had been taken at a session of the intergovernmental commission. The move, in his words, is expected to boost trade between the two countries dramatically.

"I hope is will do good, first of all, to the Syrian economy," he stressed.

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