The General Authority for Land and Sea Ports in Syria clarified the identity of the Chinese company investing in free zones exceeding one million square meters.

On Tuesday, May 27, Mazen Alloush, the Public Relations Director of the General Authority for Land and Sea Ports, stated to Enab Baladi that the Chinese company “Fidi Contracting,” which signed the contract to invest in free zones in Syria, is the official agent for the company AOJ-Technology.

Alloush confirmed that the company is not a shell company and is licensed in Syria, based in the free zone of Damascus.

The General Authority for Land and Sea Ports in Syria announced the signing of a strategic memorandum of understanding with the Chinese company Fidi Contracting to invest in free zones in Syria with an area exceeding one million square meters.

The memorandum of understanding grants the company the right to fully invest in the free zone in Hasya area in Homs province, covering an area estimated at about 850,000 square meters, aimed at creating a fully integrated industrial zone containing specialized factories and production facilities.

The Chinese company has also been granted the right to invest 300,000 square meters of the free zone in Adra, Rural Damascus province, to establish commercial and service projects that meet the needs of the local and regional market.

The contract duration is 20 years, and the Chinese company will commit to implementing the project phases according to a specific timetable, ensuring economic feasibility and enhancing the role of free zones as a driver for development and attracting foreign direct investments.

Details about the investing company

After controversy regarding the company’s dependency, Syrian economic researcher Mulham al-Jazmaty clarified in a previous conversation with Enab Baladi that the lack of public information raises questions about the nature and background of the company, especially given the large investment size mentioned in the agreement, necessitating intensified research and digging into its details.

He added that his research led him to several points: there is no official website for Fidi Contracting, no commercial registration or company registration information in China, and there are no profiles for the company on business platforms like LinkedIn. Additionally, the company has no prior media presence and has not been mentioned in any international media reports before the recent agreement with Syria.

It is noticeable that the signing of the agreement with Fidi Contracting came just a few weeks after meetings between Syrian officials and Zhou Lijiang, the general manager of AOJ-Technology in the Middle East, which raises the possibility of a relationship between the two companies. The person appearing from the Chinese side in the official signing photo is identified as Mr. Lijiang himself, who was present in a previous meeting with a Chinese delegation that visited Damascus earlier.

Returning to Zhou Lijiang, we find that he has visited Damascus multiple times, the first of which was on April 22, when he visited the headquarters of the General Authority for Land and Sea Ports in the capital, followed by an official visit on May 1, leading a delegation of Chinese businessmen meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

According to researcher al-Jazmaty, based on the definition circulated by official media agencies about Mr. Zhou Lijiang, he is the general manager of AOJ-Technology in the Middle East, allowing us to draw a direct linkage between AOJ and Fidi Contracting, considering the latter as the operational arm of the parent company.