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Syria just hosted its first international tech conference in 50 years

Syrian-American entrepreneurs and investors hope to facilitate 25,000 new tech jobs in the country by 2030.

The conference took place amid the transitional government’s active outreach to regional powers, seeking to build support and re-establish diplomatic ties after ousting former President Bashar al-Assad in December. In the past month, Syria’s interim leader Ahmed al-Shara has met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman in Riyadh, as a part of his effort to invite economic and humanitarian help for the country. Syria has a pool of “strong software engineers who are extremely resilient, who can be productive with two hours of electricity a day while working with an awful internet system and still being able to compete with their international counterparts,” Ojjeh told Rest of World.

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