Issues related to tourism, agriculture, communications, associations’ work, Damascus International Fair and services in Aleppo city were on the top of the Cabinet’s agenda at its session on Tuesday, chaired by Prime Minister Imad Khamis.

The cabinet discussed a bill on creating the General Authority for Tourism and Hotel Training, that enjoys financial and administrative independence and affiliated to Tourism Minister.

Public Works and Housing Minister Hussein Arnous, director of the governmental committee tasked with restoring services to Aleppo neighborhoods that have been cleared of terrorism briefed the cabinet on the services and infrastructure projects achieved during the past period, noting that citizens have started to return to the eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo by more than 40 percent.

Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade Mohammad Samer al-Khalil also briefed the cabinet on the current preparations for launching the 59th session of Damascus International Fair, clarifying that marketing of participation in the textile, food, chemical, and engineering sectors has been accomplished in cooperation with the federations concerned, while in terms of foreign marketing, the participation of 9 countries has been fixed so far, with 13 more countries willing to take part.

The cabinet approved the Communications and Technology Ministry’s letter on exempting the public sector’s imports from the Islamic Republic of Iran from customs duties, taxes and other fees for a period of six months starting off July 1, 2017.