‘Ready to engage’: Syria’s foreign minister calls for lifting of sanctions

In exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, Hassan al-Shibani details the new administration’s goals and challenges ahead.

Syria’s new Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani has spoken exclusively to Al Jazeera about the new administration’s goals, orientation, and progress so far.

Speaking to Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra on New Year’s Day, a little more than three weeks after longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad was ousted, al-Shibani was eager to outline progress so far.

The interim administration – led by the commander-in-chief, Ahmed al-Sharaa – is expected to hold talks on January 5 to discuss Syria’s future agenda at a crucial National Dialogue Conference, which will clarify a great deal about the path forward.

After a brutal wave of repression of protesters in 2011 that led to Syria spiralling into war, Australia, Canada, the European Union, Switzerland and the United States imposed sanctions on the al-Assad regime.

The aim at the time, al-Shibani said, was to send a message of support to the Syrian people who were suffering under the repressive regime.