Romania–Syria relations explained

Romania–Syria relations refer to the bilateral and diplomatic relations between the Romania and the Syrian Arab Republic. Relations between the Romanian People's Republic and the Syrian Republic were established on 9 August 1955. Romania has an embassy in Damascus.^[1] Syria has an embassy in Bucharest.^[2]

Before Syria suspended itself, both countries were full members of the UM. In September 2021, a chargé d'affaires was appointed at the Romanian embassy in Damascus.^[3] In April 2024, a Romanian Intelligence Service chief Răzvan Ionescu met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Hossam Louka, director of GID, delivering a joint message from Romania, Cyprus, Greece and Italy, expressing their intention to re-establish contact with the Syrian government.^[4]

Country comparison

	Romania	Syria
Population	19,051,562 ^[5]	18,604,031^[6]
Area	238,398 km^2 (50,949 sq mi)	185,180  km^2 (71,500 sq mi)
Population Density	97/km^2 (250/sq mi)	118.3/km^2 (306.4/sq mi)
Capital	Bucharest	Damascus
Largest City	Bucharest – 1,739,297	Damascus – 2,503,000^[7]
Government	Unitary semi-presidential republic	Unitary dominant-party semi-presidential republic
Current leader	President Klaus Iohannis Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu	President Bashar al-Assad Prime Minister Hussein Arnous
Official languages		Arabic
Main religions	73.86% Romanian Orthodoxy, 5.97% Protestantism, 4.5% Catholicism, 0.3% Islam	87% Islam, 10% Christianity, 3% Druzism
Ethnic groups		75% Arabs 10% Kurds 15% Others (including Turkomans, Assyrians, Circassians, Armenians and Jews)^[8] ^[9]
GDP (nominal)	US$ 817.986 billion (43,179 per capita)	US$22,4 billion,^[10] ($1,265 per capita)

Factors affecting relations

• The two countries were exposed to colonialism and occupation, which made their positions against the occupation.
• Geographical proximity and the common cultural heritage between the two countries represented by Ancient Syria and Dacia through Greco-Roman world.
• Both countries belonged to Roman Empire and Ottoman Empire for centuries.

See also

• Foreign relations of Romania
• Foreign relations of Syria
• Syria-EU relations
• Arab League-EU relations

External links

• Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: direction of the Romanian embassy in Damascus
• Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: direction of the Syrian embassy in Bucharest

Notes and References

1. Web site: Ambasada României la Damasc | AMBASADA ROMÂNIEI în Republica Arabă Siriană.
2. Web site: L'isolement diplomatique de la Syrie se relâche . . 13 February 2019.
3. Web site: About The Chargé d’Affaires of the European Union to Syria . eeas.europa.eu . 29 July 2021 .
4. Web site: Romanian Intelligence Chief Visits Syria, Meets Bashar al-Assad with a Message . The Syrian Observer . 19 April 2024 .
5. Web site: Populaţia rezidentă la 1 Ianuarie 2023 . INSSE (www.insse.ro) . 2023-08-30 . ro . 30 August 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230830090953/https://insse.ro/cms/sites/default/files/com_presa/com_pdf/poprez_ian2023r.pdf . live .
6. Web site: Population, total – Syrian Arab Republic . World population review. worldpopulationreview.com. 1 January 2022.
7. Web site: Damascus population 2022. 23 September 2022. World Population Review. 2 October 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20221002173112/https://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/damascus-population. live.
8. Web site: Syria: People and society . The World Factbook . 10 May 2022 . CIA.
9. Web site: Largest Ethnic Groups In Syria . WorldAtlas . 7 June 2018 . 18 August 2022.
10. Web site: GDP Syrian Arab Republic. World Bank. worldbank.org. 29 December 2021.