Syria has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Kuwaiti Fund for Economic and Social Development under which the Fund will provide a grant for the amount of 16 million Kuwaiti dinars [$60.57 million], or 70% of the cost of constructing a 105 km [65.6 mile] connecting road in the Dair al-Zur. Construction is scheduled to start in 2009.

The Director General of the Road Authority in Syria, Hussein ‘Arnous, said the road extension is a part of a main highway extending from Latkia on the Mediterranean to the Iraqi borders.

al-Sharq, Qatar, July 25, 2008