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FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7300
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 DAMASCUS 000093 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ELA AND ECA/PE/V/R 
LONDON FOR MILLER, PARIS FOR NOBLES 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/01/2020 
TAGS: PREL PGOV ECIN ECON EIND EINT EINV EPET ETRD
KPAO, OEXC, SCUL, SY 
SUBJECT: GOVERNOR IYAD GHAZAL OUTLINES HIS "DREAM OF HOMS" 
 
Classified By: CDA Charles Hunter for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: Homs Governor Iyad Ghazal waxed poetic on his 
vision of economic/social/political revival that he 
romantically called the "Dream of Homs" during a January 26 
meeting with the Charg in Homs.  Two key elements stood at 
the "dream's" center: (1) the development of an industrial 
park in Hissyah (45 kilometers south of Homs); and (2) 
President Asad's assurance that some administrative powers 
over economic development that were once the sole province of 
the central government would devolve to the Governors as part 
of a SARG move toward greater decentralization.  Ghazal 
detailed a voluminous list of ongoing projects and studies to 
be used in developing "industrial cities," decreasing 
corruption, increasing efficiency in granting business 
licenses through an E-government project,  streamlining 
administrative procedures (especially in the health care 
sector), and stimulating a new culture of partnership between 
citizens and the Homs government.  End summary. 
 
------------------ 
Background on Homs 
------------------ 
 
¶2. (SBU) The Homs Governate, the largest of Syria's governate 
at approximately 42,000 square kilometers, is situated in the 
center of the country, shares borders with Iraq and Lebanon, 
and is home to a number of national heritage sites, including 
Palmyra and the Crac des Chevaliers.  The capital of the 
governate is the city of Homs, which dates back to around 
2300 BC.  According to Ghazal, the governate has a population 
of around two million people, with an additional two million 
"Homsy" living abroad.  Traditionally known for agricultural 
production, (e.g., dairy, poultry, sheep, wheat, sugar beets) 
as well as for its oil refinery, Homs has experienced an 
increase of new industry in recent years, especially since 
Legislative Decree No. 57 (2004) set forth guidelines for the 
creation of industrial cities.  Energized by the new decree, 
Ghazal explained his office had launched a series of 
strategic research studies to assess where and how to 
maximize economic development projects that would, he 
proclaimed, make "the Dream of Homs" a reality.  In 2009, 
Legislative Decree No. 52 designated Homs as headquarters for 
the Federation of Chambers of Industry. 
 
------------- 
New Autonomy? 
------------- 
 
¶3. (C) Ghazal recalled how during a meeting between President 
Asad and Syria's governors in 2005, the president directed 
them to "pay more attention to strategic studies."  Governors 
in the past, he contended, had not had the power to initiate 
studies of this sort; that had been the purview of the 
central ministries.  Asad's directive provided the impetus 
for the governate to commence a round of development-oriented 
studies that would, Ghazal said, direct his office's future 
efforts in reshaping administrative and businesses practices. 
 At the same time, the governor emphasized the central 
government's role in approving all future projects.  He 
characterized these studies as "incentives for reform," but 
noted that while many decisions would be made at the local 
level, the "huge, positive impact of the central government" 
should not be underestimated. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
The Dream of Homs: Administrative Reform 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (C) Ghazal characterized the "Dream of Homs" as first and 
foremost rising out of, and playing a role in, the central 
government's five-year plan. The "industrial cities decree," 
however, had given local governments greater concrete 
administrative powers than they had previously enjoyed, he 
added.  Without detailing precisely what new powers were 
ceded to the governates, the governor described a number of 
proposals in which the governate seemed to wield primary 
authority.  Homs had begun a broad administrative reform 
initiative featuring an "E-government" program to simplify 
licensing and administrative procedures for both business 
investment and the management of certain public sector 
operations. 
 
¶5. (C) Ghazal cited a 2004 UNDP report that stated the 
average length of time to process a business license in Syria 
was 680 days.  With a new E-government on-line application 
 
DAMASCUS 00000093  002 OF 003 
 
 
procedure, "we will shrink 680 days to half an hour," Ghazal 
exclaimed.  (Comment: From the governor's description, the 
application procedure appeared to apply exclusively to 
individuals seeking investment opportunities inside the 
industrial city of Hissyah. End comment.)  Using the 
E-government site, an entrepreneur could learn about 
available real estate plots and fill out the appropriate 
application for license and land-use permission in the space 
of 30 minutes.  Another 15 days of processing would be 
needed, Ghazal continued, before the entrepreneur would 
receive the formal go-ahead to begin development.  Inside the 
industrial city, "the land is free," the governor said. 
Investors needed only "pay for the infrastructure."  The new 
system also streamlined the multiple licensing costs into a 
single fee payment.  This new payment structure would, the 
governor asserted, "cancel 90 percent of the corruption" that 
had attended the fee-paying process in previous years.  Begun 
in 2006, the E-government program would yet require two years 
before full implementation, Ghazal said. 
 
¶6. (C) The health care sector, heavily subsidized by the 
central government, would be another area of focus for 
administrative reform, the governor continued.  Based on 
governate-directed research, he hoped to amend health care at 
the local level to ensure better service without a fee 
increase.  Additionally, Ghazal outlined reforms in education 
and waste management at the village level.  The biggest 
challenge, though, was his goal to relocate the oil refinery, 
currently west of Homs city, to the east so as to reduce the 
wind-borne pollution plaguing Homs.  Ghazal noted that three 
years ago the central government introduced a plan to 
refurbish the refinery for approximately $800,000,000.  The 
governate, armed with land-use data, real estate value (the 
refinery plot is worth $500,000,000, according to Ghazal) 
plus the long term pollution costs, successfully lobbied the 
central government to cancel the plan on the grounds that the 
costs outweighed the benefits, thereby clearing the way for 
the governate's relocation proposal. 
 
----------------------------- 
In Praise of Public Diplomacy 
----------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Governor Ghazal expressed his admiration for a 
recent International Visitor Program in which a delegation of 
Syrians, including Reem Balbaaki, an engineer who works in 
Ghazal's administration, traveled to the U.S. to meet with 
public-policy institutes, several U.S. governors, and the 
Army Corps of Engineers for consultations on urban planning 
and water management.  Ghazal praised the program as having 
provided a blueprint for future Syrian-based policy 
institutes that could train the next generation of local 
leaders.  "We know we have a problem regarding qualifications 
of heads of municipalities, especially in rural areas.  Very 
often the best candidates move to larger cities, leaving us 
with few choices," Ghazal lamented.  Better training, he 
suggested, would help fill the knowledge gap. 
 
¶8. (SBU) The delegation's meeting with the Army Corps of 
Engineers about water management was, the governor noted, of 
great significance.  He argued Homs needed to focus more 
intensely on water issues, including crop types and 
irrigation practices.  "It's illogical that we plant tomatoes 
in the desert," he complained.  The problem with bringing 
about change lay in what he described as the "narrow 
mentality" of rural farmers.  Small landholders "only 
consider the family's situation," and not the overall cost 
certain crops exact on the terrain and water supply, he 
explained.  The governor expected a recent decree that no 
summer vegetables be planted in the desert would help rein in 
the problem. 
 
----------------------------- 
Chicago's Future Sister City? 
----------------------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) Ghazal informed us that he had been in 
correspondence with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's office 
about the possibility of starting a sister city program. 
Mohammad Zuhur, a "Homsy" living in Chicago, chairman of the 
Islamic Organizations of Chicago and head of the 
Syrian-American Medical Association, had reportedly conveyed 
Mayor Daley's "desire for a sister city relationship" to 
Governor Ghazal's office.  Ghazal, in turn, invited the mayor 
to attend a hot-air balloon competition in Tadmur and then 
sign a memorandum of understanding.  Daley, who at the time 
 
DAMASCUS 00000093  003 OF 003 
 
 
of the balloon festival was slated to be in Amman, Jordan, 
was unable to make the trip to Syria.  Despite this initial 
setback, Ghazal looked forward to future cooperation with the 
mayor's office. (Note: In our effort to follow up on this 
information, we learned from one of the governor's staffers 
that there had been no direct correspondence between the 
governor and the mayor.  Rather, correspondence had passed 
through a "third party" (NFI). End note.) 
 
¶10. (SBU) In the interest of future cultural exchanges 
between Syria and the U.S., the governor, on two different 
occasions, seriously pressed the Charg to bring pop 
song-and-dance sensation Shakira to the 2010 Tadmur Festival 
in Palmyra.  Without raising the irony that Shakira was a 
Colombian of Lebanese extraction and probably not a U.S. 
citizen, the Charg tactfully demurred on budgetary grounds. 
 
¶11. (C) Comment: The Governor's ambitions for Homs's future 
are clear and he has evidently placed much faith in the many 
studies that will ultimately help determine when, where, and 
how to implement new social, agricultural, economic, and 
infrastructure development.  Throughout our visit to Homs, 
however, we heard from several local businessmen that "the 
Dream of Homs" would never be realized, that the people of 
Homs were unconvinced by the governor's reform strategies, 
and that the governor himself was corrupt.  Throughout the 
meeting, Ghazal never once mentioned the presence of the 
National Sugar Company (NSC), a state-of-the art sugar 
refinery that represents the single largest U.S. business 
investment in Syria through Cargill's minority shareholding. 
We suspect his oversight was purposeful -- the NSC had 
refused to build inside the industrial city, in part due to 
water supply problems.  When the governor attempted to block 
the company's licensing for building on its current site just 
north of Homs, the NSC reportedly appealed directly to the 
Asad family for relief, and won it. 
 
¶12. (C) Comment continued: Despite the governor's loss on 
this front, we assess that limited economic and 
administrative power appears to have been delegated to 
governors and may, in the future, extend further to other 
municipal leaders.  It remains to be seen, however, whether 
the central government's ministries in Damascus will allow 
this decentralization of power to effect reform without the 
ministries' direct participation.  End comment. 
HUNTER