Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is travelling to Saudi Arabia on Sunday, 12 January 2025. She will be attending an international conference on Syria being held in Riyadh. This is the follow‑up to a conference that took place in December in Aqaba, Jordan. For the key to a peaceful Syria is to be found primarily within the region.

Important countries in the region, as well as the United Nations, the European Union and western partners, are meeting for talks in the Saudi Arabian capital. Foreign Minister Baerbock will also use the opportunity for bilateral talks.

The major issues confronting Syria will dominate both the working session and the talks on the fringes of the conference:

How can a peaceful transition to an inclusive political system that grants all groups in Syrian society rights and participation be ensured?

How can the terrible past under the Assad regime be addressed so that the deep divides in Syrian society can be healed, also with the help of the UN?

How can the country’s infrastructure be rebuilt so that the Syrians can get vital services from their state, such as electricity and water?

How can harmful outside influence be prevented in this period of change? How can an IS resurgence be prevented?

Humanitarian need in Syria, too, has long been great. Germany has been providing humanitarian assistance in the region for years and will now support reconstruction in Syria as well. If, following the end of the Assad regime, Syria is to move in a direction that gives the people in the country a better life, the countries in the region naturally play a prime role.

The conference in Riyadh will be looking at how this can succeed.