Syria

Syria’s Desalination Investment
Syria is a country located in the Middle East between Lebanon and Turkey which boarders the Mediterranean Sea. It is a nation slightly larger than the size of North Dakota and has become the source of investment for Haddock and Siska Incorporated (H&S Inc.) H&S Inc. has obtained a contract from Capital Investor’s Group to invest $50 million in Syria. In view of the fact that the goal of the contract is to spread western ways to the Middle East, H&S has decided to invest in a $34.5 million water distillery plant. This plant will benefit the people of Syria and their economy by purifying and distill rating 5 million gallons of water a day . This purification process will continue to help boost Syria’s agricultural sector which has already contributed to the country’s economic growth. In addition, the World Factbook identifies Syria as having problems with water pollution from raw sewage and petroleum refining wastes. The country also has inadequate potable water. Within the next 20 years, it is said that Syria will be in a crisis for water. In light of this information, there is a growing need to develop water desalination technology. The need for this technology has led Syria to form the Scientific National Commission for Water Desalination. H&S hopes that their investment will offset the water problems. In order for this investment to take place a throughout investigation of the country’s economic, political, and social infrastructure is assessed. Syria’s economy is currently witnessing an improvement in output performance. However, it is still far below the prevailing potential of the economy. The nation’s economy has grown by around 2.9 % in 2006. Their foreign reserves and gold are $5.5 billion. They have been the recipient of 180 million in economic aid. Syria has around 19 million people and some relevant facts about the economy are: GDP (purchasing power parity) which is $75.1 billion (2006 est.), GDP real growth rate is 2.9%, GDP per capita (PPP) is $4,000. The GDP composition by sector includes agriculture at 24%. This 24% sector is by far the most important to H&S’s investment because the goal is to boost the economy by aiding the agricultural sector. Other sectors include industry at 18%, and services 58% (2005). The inflation rate averages around 8%. Approximately half of the labor force eligible for work and is working at 5.505 million. 26% of the labor force works in agriculture while 14% is industry, and 60% is services (2003). The agricultural products that are producte are; wheat, barley, cotton, lentils, chickpeas, olives, sugar beets, beef, mutton, eggs, poultry, milk. The industry products produced are; petroleum, textiles, food processing, beverages, tobacco, phosphate rock mining, cement, oil seeds crushing. The over all industry rate of growth is 1.5%. The unemployment rate is 12.5% and the population below poverty line is 11.9%. Syria exports crude oil, petroleum products, fruits and vegetables, cotton fiber, clothing, meat and live animals and wheat products to Iraq, Italy, Germany, Lebanon, Egypt, France, and Saudi Arabia. The countries imports machinery, transportation equipment, electrical power machinery, food, and livestock, metal and metal products, chemicals and chemical products, plastics, yarn, and paper from Saudi Arabia, China, Egypt, Italy, UAE, Ukraine, Germany and Iran. From the above data you can see that, Syrian economy is heavily dependent on agriculture activity. The agriculture economy division of Syria employs around 1.4313 million people. The use of thousands of gallons of water is needed to keep crops properly watered. Clean water is starting to run short in Syria. With is shortage of water Syria will have to ether start importing clean water or develop new way to produce clean water.

LUKAS YOU NEED TO WRITE HERE ABOT THE POLITICAL/ LEGAL SYSTEMS also write about laws that only relate to muslims such as zakat and interest free banking and something known as Sharia law!! (Must include these 3 pts). And include this paragraph in your part of the paper: No matter what happens in Syria, you can just about bribe your way out of anything. Bribery is to Syria like ice is to water. Around ninety percent of Syria’s economy is corrupt . Syrians have fallen to bribery because their GDP per capita income is only $4,000. To get anything done in a reasonable amount of time a certain amount of bribery is needed. It does not have to be a large amount of money just a few dollars to get things rolling. With all the permits, land rights, water rights, and building materials needed to get a desalination plant up and running, bribery is necessary. Bribery will help speed up the process so there will be little to no hold ups in any offices of the government.
Syria has a unique social infrastructure not only is the country culturally rich, it is mainly an Islamic nation. The religious ethnic groups include: Sunni Muslims at 74%, other Muslims (includes Alawite, Druze) at 16%, Christians (various denominations) at 10%, and a Jewish population (small communities in Damascus, Al Qamishli, and Aleppo)4. A large number of Christians can also be found among Syrian Palestinians. These Christians are classified into several denominations. Chalcedonian Antiochian Orthodox ("Greek Orthodox") makeup the majority of the Christian population at 50-55%. Catholics (Latin, Armenian, Maronite, Caldean, Melkite and Syriac) make up 18%. The rest of the Christian population is made up by Assyrian Christians, Armenian Oriental Orthodox found around Aleppo, and the native Syriac Orthodox Church . According to Wikipedia.com the majority of Syrians live close to the Euphrates River valley and along the coastal plain. Historically Syrians are a Semitic Levantine population; however, they are now referred to as Arabs because of strong cultural ties to Arab history. In reality Syrians are a mixture of Semitic groups who mixed with Arab settlers. Wikipedia goes on to describe the ethnic population of mainly being made up of Arabs at 85%. These Arabs include around 400,000 refugees from Palestine. The largest ethnic minority are the Kurds, who make up 10% of the population. Most Kurds live in northeast Syria and speak a Kurdish language. In addition, Kurdish communities can be found in most cities. Another minority are the Assyrian Christians at 3% who inhabit north and northeast Syria. The 7th largest Armenian population can be found in Syria along with 1.2 million Iraqi refugees. Although there are a variety of languages spoken, Syria has only one official language which is Arabic. Kurdish is also spoken while mainly educated people speak English and French. Other languages spoken include Armenian, Turkmen, and Aramaic.
Syrian culture can be classified as more of a high context culture which means, “there is minimum reliance on explicit verbal or written communications .” High context cultures also emphasize the importance of family and tradition. These types of cultures tend to place less importance on arriving to appointments exactly on time. In addition, Syrians hold strong “moral and ethical values and they also value education and self discipline .” Another important cultural aspect of Syria is their folklore. Syrians are proud of their traditional arts such as dances known as al-Samah, the Dabkes, and the sword dance. In order to preserve tradition, folk costumes are worn at marriage ceremonies and the birth of children.
Similar to other cultures, Syrians have unique customs. However, most of their customs relate to their crafts. Crafts are still being made in the same traditional way they were made in the past. Each generation is taught how to embroider and make ceramics, pottery, jewelry, and basketry. Other factors that have contributed to Syria’s culture are writings found by archaeologists in Mesopotamia and Egypt. According to Wikipedia.com, “scholars and artists contributed to Hellenistic and Roman thought and culture.”
Although the type of food offered in Syria has been influenced by many different cultures, the majority of food is Southern Mediterranean, Greek, and Middle Eastern cuisine. Other cultures that have influenced a Syrian’s way of eating are French and Turkish cultures. Some of the more popular foods include: shish kebab, stuffed zucchini, yabra' also known as stuffed grape leaves, shawarma, and falafel.
The increasing demand for water in Syria’s agricultural sector and population has led H&S to find a more reliable clean water source. H&S believes a desalination plant is the best investment to solve the growing problem. The assessment on Syria’s political, social, and economic infrastructure proves that there will be obstacles to overcome. These obstacles include bribery. Paperwork will be needed to establish a plant in a reasonable amount of time. Government officials will most likely be the ones bribed to get this plant established. In addition, dealing with unfamiliar Islamic laws such as zakat will also prove to be potential problems; however, these can be overcome by working with the right people that are more familiar with these laws. Syria’s high context cultures and heavy emphasis on family traditions will allow families to work together to improve the quality of life for all Syrians. With the development of the Scientific National Commission for Water Desalination, it is hopeful that this investment will take off rapidly and support Syria. This investment should also help filter money back into the economy.

Test Questions

1. True or False the approximate population of Syria is 19 million.
True
2. What percent of the population is Muslim?
a. 80%
b. 64%
c. 10%
d. 77%
3. What commission was formed to develop a new water purification process?
A. The Syrian purification Commission
B. The Scientific National Commission for Water Desalination
C. SAC
D. Syrian Board of Developers Commission

References

1. Bank Audi (Audi Sarsdar Group) Syira Economic Report http://www.audi.com.lb/geteconomy/syria/SyriaEconomicReport.pdf 2. CIA, CIA Factbook, https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/sy.html

3. David Bender 2006, Bribery as a Way of Life, http://web.mac.com/dwb217/iWeb/WorldViewBender/Blog:%20The%20View%20from%20Syria/A843C6FA-C0F7-4335-AA8A-00CD3BD2CE69.html 4. Definition of High context culture: Cultural contextualization where there is minimum reliance on explicit verbal or written communications www.oup.com/uk/booksites/content/0199267529/student/glossary.htm

4. Possible desalination plant 2002: http://reality.sculptors.com/pipermail/clean-water/2002-December/msg00000.html

5. S. AlAyoubi, Z. Salhani, A.H. Zein, M. Azmeh (2001), The Desalination
Commission in Syria http://www.medaqua.org/Conf2001/abstracts/52.htm

6. Syria, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syria

7. Syria Culture, http://www.cafe-syria.com/Culture.htm