Turkey and Syria set $10 billion trade target

Turkey and Syria signed accords on Tuesday to deepen ties and set a $10 billion bilateral trade target, prompting concern in Israel over potential shifts in regional security.

Turkey and Syria trade target

Officials said the deals include memoranda intended to expand economic cooperation and to create a framework for closer diplomatic and commercial ties. The agreements set the $10 billion trade goal as an explicit ambition, the officials added.

Israeli commentators and some officials voiced alarm at the rapprochement, saying closer Ankara–Damascus links could reduce Syria's diplomatic isolation and alter security calculations along Israel's northern frontier. Israeli reactions described the moves as a strategic realignment rather than a purely commercial initiative.

Regional analysts say the mechanism to reach $10 billion would likely depend on reopening transport, easing sanctions-linked frictions and arranging transport corridors that could bring reconstruction contracts and private-sector flows into Syria. Those channels, they add, would have political as well as economic consequences for neighbouring states.

Monitor whether Ankara and Damascus formalize a timetable for the $10 billion goal by March 31, 2027; that deadline will reveal whether the accords are diplomatic signalling or the start of implementable economic integration.