A restaurant payment with a Visa card in Damascus has become a symbol of Syria’s reconnection with the global financial system.
President Ahmed al-Sharaa used a Visa card to make an electronic payment at a restaurant in Old Damascus on Wednesday, in a transaction filmed and broadcast by Syria TV. Central Bank of Syria Governor Safwat Raslan was present.
The moment came as international sanctions on Syria are being rolled back and the country seeks to rebuild an economy that has spent years largely cut off from global markets.
Visa said on Thursday that it had successfully completed a live international card transaction in Syria, describing the test as a significant step towards allowing foreign visitors to use Visa cards in the country.
The company said the transaction was carried out in partnership with Syria’s central bank, Fransabank and Paymera.
Visa said the development would help expand digital payments and strengthen Syria’s links to the global digital economy.
For ordinary Syrians and international visitors, wider access to electronic payments could eventually make everyday transactions easier and reduce the country’s reliance on cash.
The payment came as al-Sharaa spoke at the opening of the 63rd Damascus International Fair, where he presented Syria as entering a new period of reconstruction following the lifting of sanctions.
He said he hoped Syria could once again serve as a "bridge between markets", a trade corridor and an economic hub connecting East and West.
The government faces a formidable task. Years of war, sanctions and economic isolation have damaged infrastructure, weakened financial institutions and restricted Syria’s access to international trade and investment.
The reopening of financial channels is therefore an important part of any broader economic recovery.
The latest developments follow a series of steps by Washington to ease restrictions on Syria.
The U.S. Treasury Department announced on Monday (24 August) that it had removed Syria from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, fulfilling a commitment by the Trump administration to provide sanctions relief.
Syria had been on the list since 1979.
The removal does not by itself resolve the country's deep economic problems, but it represents a major shift after decades of isolation.
Against that backdrop, al-Sharaa's restaurant payment was more than a routine card transaction: it offered a small, visible sign of Syria's effort to reconnect with a financial system from which it has long been largely shut out.
Kenya has confirmed its first case of Ebola after a Kenyan citizen who had travelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) died in Nairobi, p...
Most people meet artificial intelligence (AI) through a phone. It suggests the next word, sorts the photos, fla...
Right-wing Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro will face leftist Presi...
Australian counterterrorism authorities are examining the links of the co-pilot accused of attacking the captain and attempting to take control of a flydubai flight bound for Israel. Authorities in New Zealand have also said they are investigating reports the suspect had spent time in that country.
Right-wing Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro will face leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in a runoff of the presidential election later this month, after he exceeded expectations in Sunday's first-round vote with a slight lead over the incumbent.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said that the United States will 'help' Russia after a laboratory worker died at a plague research institute in Siberia.
Iran's Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad has resigned, with Hamid Bovard, chief executive of the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), appointed as acting oil minister, according to Iranian state media.
Candidates elected to Bosnia and Herzegovina's three-member presidency declared victory after preliminary unofficial results showed Denis Becirovic leading the Bosniak seat, Darijana Filipovic ahead in the Croat seat and Zeljka Cvijanovic likely retaining the Serb seat.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) project could become a cornerstone of economic transformation in Armenia and the wider region, while boosting investment and regional connectivty.
Central Asian countries are strengthening sanitary and quarantine controls amid the situation in Russia’s Irkutsk region. Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have introduced preventive measures following the death of an employee of a plague research institute in the city of Shelekhov.
Kazakhstan’s former navy chief, Kanat Niyazbekov, has been arrested after 14 servicemen died during military exercises in the Caspian Sea in September, Russian state news agency TASS has reported, citing law enforcement authorities.
The German-Azerbaijani Connectivity Conference 2026 commenced on 6 October in Baku under the title “Mobilising Finance for Infrastructure, Transport, Logistics, Green Energy, and Digitalisation along the Middle Corridor.”
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Türkiye on Monday agreed at an emergency meeting in Riyadh to put their Mecca Joint Defence Agreement into practical effect, deciding to deploy agreed military forces and capabilities rapidly to the kingdom as Houthi attacks and a Saudi-backed offensive in Yemen continue.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment