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GFMM desk: Russia plans to build a grain hub at Tartus Port in order to boost its presence in Middle East markets, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov said.
Borisov said Russia will spend $500 million to overhaul the old port and build a new one. The plans also call for a railway across Syria and Iraq that will link Syria’s Mediterranean coast with the Persian Gulf.
Deliveries of 100,000 metric tons of grain in humanitarian aid to Syria will begin by the end of December and continue until late spring, he added.
He also said construction of the needed infrastructure at the port, which Russia rented from Syria for 49 years in 2017, could begin next year.
Ports in Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, have exported surplus grain to the port of Tartus in recent years to ensure Syria has a reliable source of food.
The Russian Navy operates a military facility at Tartus, Russia's only naval foothold in the Mediterranean, where Syrian and Russian troops held their first joint drills on December 17, 2019.
Russia also has an air base in Syria's coastal Latakia province which it has used for air strikes against forces opposing Assad. Last month, Moscow said it had set up a helicopter base at an airport in northeastern Syria.
Source: Online/SZK
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