Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa is set to visit Berlin on Monday, March 30th, for his inaugural official trip to Germany, the German government announced.
A spokesman for the Chancellery, Stefan Kornelius, confirmed that Chancellor Friedrich Merz will receive Sharaa at the Chancellery.
Sharaa, who led Islamist rebel forces to overthrow former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, has since made several international visits, including trips to the United States and France. These trips have coincided with the lifting of some international sanctions on Syria.
His planned visit to Germany was originally scheduled for January but was postponed amid clashes between Syrian government forces and Kurdish fighters.
During the Berlin visit, Sharaa will participate in an economic forum attended by “high-ranking business and government representatives.” The forum will focus on the “prospects for economic recovery and the reconstruction of Syria,” following years of conflict that severely impacted the country’s economy and led to widespread poverty, according to a German government spokesman.
The spokesman noted that the lifting of EU, UN, and other sanctions after the end of the Assad regime has laid the foundations for economic recovery.
Several NGOs representing Syrian Kurdish and Alawite communities in Germany had previously criticized the proposed visit, calling it “totally unacceptable.”
