Google Cloud Speech-to-Text API (Chirp) + Gemini 2.5 Flash Non-Thinking. Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:00:10legislative authorities. Some say in this
00:00:19also from and the scene
00:00:21always those who contest this. This is not true
00:00:25Some of them belong to the world of superficiality, as many
00:00:26classes. Well, you mentioned believe. Some of them have
00:00:30diverted the topic to side issues. But
00:00:34some of them, as some agree, have gone
00:00:38deeper, placing their fingers on the wound, or rather, on
00:00:41the wounds, and how many there are. This is the nature of
00:00:44the questions that were directed to
00:00:46due to the lack of experience with the Minister of Energy, Muhammad Al-Bashir, during his hearing
00:00:49today before Parliament. This hearing
00:00:53is the anticipated
00:00:56session for almost eight days.
00:01:00The minister is to provide a convincing briefing
00:01:03to the public about the reasons for
00:01:06And the session was long. Why was there so much delving into the decision to raise fuel prices in the country. It is true that he went
00:01:09to Parliament armed with three types of
00:01:13diesel, which he introduced in
00:01:15said, "I mean, we were distracted. the past two days
00:01:17The story was lost in to suit different needs, because at
00:01:19the same time, he acknowledged the magnitude of the challenges
00:01:24the session. I mean, indeed, the delving into and explained Syria's I think that this was a major weakness in oil situation with numbers
00:01:27and statistics.
00:01:29But did his answers, I wonder, convince the Energy
00:01:33Here, this delving into Committee and the rest of the members of
00:01:38I mean, a large part of more questions than Parliament during five hours of is the goal of deliberation? This is one of the questions on our table in today's
00:01:41episode. As for the rest, they will concern
00:01:46and such. Why do I say the pricing mechanism, monitoring, transparency,
00:01:49It is known in governments and the results that came out of this
00:02:05and I don't think this
00:02:09at him. No, no, not
00:02:12So, the Syrian People's Assembly held a hearing today for the Minister
00:02:16of Energy, Mohammed Al-Bashir, to discuss the reasons for the recent
00:02:20billion barrels. This figure is not increase in oil derivatives prices and their impact on the transportation, production,
00:02:25were from oil, and oil's contribution to and agriculture sectors in the country. The minister justified
00:02:27the decision by the existence of a large gap, as he said,
00:02:31between local production of oil and gas and the actual
00:02:34heavy consumption,
00:02:36first to the purchasing power in emphasizing the ministry's continued efforts to secure
00:02:40supplies and cover the deficit. Let's watch the report, and then
00:02:44there is a flaw in we'll return to open the discussion with
00:02:46our guests.
00:02:50inability to Has the news of the smart card reached you? It is, without
00:02:53a doubt, a tale of woes. The queues for
00:02:56gas and fuel, and the black market
00:02:59But this logic, this should not that ended with the end are consuming of the system of corruption and thievery,
00:03:03are reflected today by addressing them during the hearing of the Minister
00:03:06of Energy, the narrowness of options and solutions in
00:03:09light of the global crisis, which in turn has left no glimmer of hope
00:03:14manage this. for its end.
00:03:15The first eye is that energy prices in When oil derivatives prices rise, the public immediately turns to question the reasons,
00:03:19and whether the matter is due to global prices or whether there are
00:03:23more complex local factors
00:03:28to eliminate this behind the crises. Economically, the discussion
00:03:31today under the dome of Parliament covered
00:03:34fuel, electricity, and beneficiary segments,
00:03:37industry, agriculture,
00:03:40I said. Okay, okay, this, this, this and workers' wages, and of course, austerity.
00:03:42But Minister Mohammed Al-Bashir threw the ball into the court of the legislative
00:03:46authority on more than one occasion in his answers to
00:03:49the huge number of
00:03:54these questions. Just quickly, Dr. Mahmoud, if you were in questions that the representatives brought to him, with expectations of achieving self-sufficiency
00:03:58in oil by 2028,
00:04:00and current losses in the ministry's budget. For the time
00:04:05Okay, what then? He does not
00:04:05Professor Musa says there is a flaw in we gave to the minister, some forgive our members, the minister received 40 questions from
00:04:09the Energy Committee. Many are the numbers that were presented during the session,
00:04:12all of which fall into three main paths:
00:04:15dilapidated local
00:04:18that were missed, because a large part of equipment,
00:04:20matters. How did you, who were present in a global energy crisis, and an internal financial gap
00:04:23in one of the most important issues on the government's
00:04:27table. Its most prominent
00:04:29countries. I cannot ask headlines are refineries and plans to develop oil
00:04:32and gas fields and expand exploration in promising areas,
00:04:36this case, it is necessary to in addition to extensive discussion about the water crisis
00:04:39large increases in and projects
00:04:40most of the interventions remained in for its treatment.
00:04:41beginning and a new type of
00:04:43Imposing itself as a policeman on world markets, the Strait of Hormuz continues to
00:04:47control fuel prices. This is the bad news
00:04:50does not in the session. But the good news is the signing
00:04:54of a memorandum of understanding to implement the replacement of the dilapidated Kirkuk-Baniyas
00:04:58pipeline, through which
00:05:00Syria can obtain transit fees and priority in purchasing
00:05:03oil passing through its territory.
00:05:08for a hearing, and With us at the table for discussion is Dr.
00:05:12Nawwar Najmi, Member of Parliament. Welcome to you, Dr.
00:05:23Dubai is Dr. Mahmoud Abdul Karim, Financial and Economic Advisor. Greetings
00:05:27to you, Doctor. Welcome to the table. And with us
00:05:31Kuwait is the expert and oil consultant, Professor Musa
00:05:35Al-Jassem. Greetings to you, Professor Musa. Welcome.
00:05:38Also with us from Istanbul is the journalist
00:05:41specializing in economic affairs, Mr. Adnan Abdul Razzaq. Greetings to you,
00:05:45Mr. Adnan. Welcome to this episode. I'll start with you,
00:05:49Mr. Adnan. You certainly followed today's hearing
00:05:52of the Minister of Energy. But as a follower
00:05:56and a journalist specializing in economic affairs,
00:05:59if you were in the session, what would you have asked the minister,
00:06:10was fitting for the new phase
00:06:14of Syria in terms of transparency and questioning
00:06:18the minister before the members of the People's Assembly.
00:06:21This is an important point, but the session
00:06:24was perhaps dispersed into different sectors, including
00:06:28oil, electricity, and water. However, if I were in the place
00:06:32of one of the representatives, I would have asked the minister, perhaps, why
00:06:35did you issue the electricity pricing in your name
00:06:39or in the name of the Ministry of Energy? I mean, if
00:06:43I were in the minister's place, Mohammed Bashir, I would have probably issued
00:06:46the decision in the name of whoever should have issued it, Professor
00:06:49Adnan, in the name of the economic committee, in the name
00:06:53of the Syrian government's decision to raise energy prices to such
00:06:58this, Professor Mohammed?
00:07:01that there are always some ministers who are constantly
00:07:04unpopular, regardless of the economic patterns.
00:07:08These include the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Trade,
00:07:11the Minister of Interior and Markets, and perhaps the Central Bank Governor, and now
00:07:14facing the energy crisis, ministers — you are trying to find an excuse for the minister
00:07:18so that all the arrows are not pointed
00:07:21at all. I am speaking logically. Why? Because
00:07:24the Syrian public has blamed the Minister of Energy, and the Minister of Energy
00:07:28has no full or
00:07:30direct connection to the decision, because the story is, first
00:07:34of all, global, and second, it is related to Syria's internal
00:07:38circumstances.
00:07:40And the Minister of Energy is not meant to be an excuse before
00:07:44the citizen. The citizen is always right, and he is not
00:07:48meant to pay the bill for the difference in
00:07:51energy prices or the difference in subsidies, because the mentality
00:07:54of collection is a mentality, I mean, the mentality of the incapable,
00:07:58if I may say so, or the mentality of the officials'
00:08:02innovate or find other funding methods,
00:08:05so they resort to taxes or raising fees or raising
00:08:09prices. So, in general, do you think the decision
00:08:12is fundamentally justified in terms of global conditions
00:08:16and local conditions? Well, if we look at the decision
00:08:20with one eye, we would be mistaken. We must look
00:08:23at the decision with both eyes.
00:08:28the world have risen by about 40 to
00:08:3150% for oil, and perhaps even 70% for oil
00:08:35derivatives globally. Syria
00:08:38consumes, as the minister said, 30,000 barrels per day, while it does not
00:08:42produce perhaps more than 120,000 barrels. So there is
00:08:46a gap between production and consumption, and the treasury's
00:08:49resources are limited, as
00:08:52discussion will have ramifications and details that we will delve into
00:08:56together in this episode. I turn to Dr. Abdul
00:08:59Mahmoud from Dubai. You too,
00:09:04the session, what would you have asked the minister? Did any of the important
00:09:08questions escape the minds of the representatives
00:09:18all the questions that were on the minds of the citizens
00:09:22were raised. But in
00:09:26my opinion, there were fundamental questions
00:09:31the discussion went in one direction, which was how
00:09:35much does energy cost us? While the most important economic question is how
00:09:38was the decision made to pass this cost on to the citizen, and on what basis was
00:09:42their ability to bear it determined? I mean, even this question was not answered
00:09:45during today's session. Not at all.
00:09:49Not at all. Not at all. Even
00:09:52technical matters and cost and price, and did not
00:09:55delve deeply enough into the core of the financial and economic problem. And I,
00:09:59I mean, if I were the one to delve into the core of the problem, which is
00:10:02specifically
00:10:04that the first question is when you decided
00:10:08to raise the price of diesel from 125 to 175, by
00:10:1240% in one go, what was the study you conducted before
00:10:15the decision to measure the impact of this increase on
00:10:19citizens' income, transportation, agriculture, food sectors, and inflation?
00:10:22Because we are not talking about an ordinary commodity, Professor Mohammed.
00:10:25Diesel goes into everything, I mean, transportation, production, and agriculture.
00:10:29And therefore, the increase does not stop at a station,
00:10:32I mean, at a fuel station or a gas station.
00:10:36It transfers to the prices of many commodities. And the ministry itself
00:10:40said that, I mean, that the bulletin was temporary, then it restructured
00:10:44prices within days. Now, as for the second question, for me, and it
00:10:47is of extreme importance is how did you arrive at determining the price
00:10:51per liter? I mean, today we got much better information,
00:10:55and I credit this to the session. I mean,
00:10:58this is to the session's credit. But I want, I mean, I want the full
00:11:02equation revealed. I want you to reveal the full equation.
00:11:05The minister says that Syria produces 112,000
00:11:09barrels per day and has a deficit of 2,000 barrels, and the bill for purchasing
00:11:12crude oil and its derivatives reaches
00:11:15831 million dollars per month. But when
00:11:19you tell me that the cost of a ton of diesel is 1590 dollars,
00:11:22then you add other costs to it.
00:11:25Well, I want to know in detail what they are, how much is the shipping amount, what
00:11:28is the insurance, what is the storage, what are
00:11:30the fees, at what dollar rate did you convert the cost
00:11:34to the Syrian lira? The file before us shows, I mean,
00:11:38do you mean, Doctor, that there was a contradiction regarding the numbers that
00:11:42were announced? Undoubtedly, there was
00:11:45a contradiction in the numbers that
00:11:48were, I mean, that were announced, especially since, I mean,
00:11:52I see, I mean, the numbers at the time, I mean,
00:11:56in the session, the most important gain is, I repeat, that it opened
00:12:00answers. More questions than answers. I mean, for the first
00:12:03time, we have a production figure, a demand figure, an import figure,
00:12:07and a monthly bill. Therefore, the second
00:12:11figure was subject to greater scrutiny.
00:12:14The other figure, I apologize, that requires greater scrutiny is
00:12:17831 million monthly. And the same
00:12:20applies to gas, because it has a need of approximately 24 million
00:12:24cubic meters per day, and local production of around
00:12:278, 8 million, and imports, as mentioned,
00:12:316.3, I believe, costing
00:12:34140 dollars. In my opinion, here, I mean, there
00:12:38is another figure that I want to stop at, which is the declared oil
00:12:42reserve, which is 2.5
00:12:45enough to be stated alone. I want to know when the last comprehensive
00:12:49geological assessment of this reserve was conducted, and how much of it
00:12:53is proven and extractable reserves.
00:12:59Please, Mr. Musa.
00:13:09more space. As I told the program director,
00:13:13my goal is awareness, and I want to
00:13:17clarify some technical points even for the other brothers, because
00:13:20I am deeply involved in this field. I worked
00:13:23in Syria in the oil fields as a petroleum engineer for five years. Well, these
00:13:27clarifications you will give, will the viewer benefit from them,
00:13:31or the guests, or the government, or the government
00:13:34itself? I mean, I have information that even
00:13:37the minister, nor even Youssef Qablawi,
00:13:41knows, because they have not worked in the field. So even Youssef Qablawi does not know the information that
00:13:45you will now provide. Not at all. Okay, tell
00:13:48us some of this information, if you please. Look, let me start
00:13:51for the sake of the young people who are here and who are listening.
00:14:05I worked in 13 countries around the world and I was an executive manager
00:14:08at the largest company in the world, Schlumberger, which we
00:14:11were responsible for in 2006, 2007, 2008,
00:14:142009. I returned to Syria and was
00:14:17the general manager of Schlumberger, which was the only
00:14:20international company that worked in
00:14:23logging, reservoir studies, and seismic.
00:14:26Because of the blockade, we did not form a non-UN
00:14:30company. Now we return to this topic. The first one who should have been at the session
00:14:34today is you, Mr. Musa. You are, I mean,
00:14:36the best person to ask about oil.
00:14:40I am, I mean, I am here, and you are probably
00:14:43following. I post awareness posts.
00:14:46Now, we'll get back to them
00:14:50together. First of all, with all due respect
00:14:53to the minister, today he looked
00:14:56very exhausted and very
00:14:59tired. And first of all, the presentation
00:15:03or the lecture does not befit a minister presenting
00:15:06it before the People's Assembly. With all due respect to him, I was
00:15:09expecting
00:15:11to understand you well, Professor Musa. The minister's presentation
00:15:15befit this position. It does not befit
00:15:18the presentation and the presence. I tell you why. First
00:15:22of all, the minister talked about merging three
00:15:25ministries into one ministry.
00:15:27Four, four. Right, doctor, three.
00:15:31And he didn't give us anything at all. Brother, today I am talking
00:15:35to the young people here. I
00:15:39mean, I have 50 countries, but today I
00:15:43have almost 40 managers
00:15:45present. Professor Musa, Professor Musa, we would appreciate it if we could get into the details.
00:15:49We know, I mean, all the required information. First of all,
00:15:53he should have presented to us the new structure of the ministries
00:15:56that are in place. Second, there are organizations, I mean, in
00:16:00English, the team he works with. He should have
00:16:04clarified the team he works with, and at least have with him
00:16:08three technical people
00:16:10next to him.
00:16:13This method is like that of the Soviet Union. I mean,
00:16:17he cannot manage all this fleet with this
00:16:20existing issue. Then, second,
00:16:24the minister, and even, I mean, you are now calling for
00:16:27attracting talents.
00:16:30Attracting talents. Well, the government is saying, I mean, the treasury
00:16:34already has a large deficit. Attracting.
00:16:38My dear, I, I, when I come, when I come
00:16:42to do a restructuring, we, as international companies, sometimes,
00:16:45due to market pressure
00:16:48that reduces operating expenses, we do
00:16:51restructurings and reduce the hierarchical
00:16:55organization at the top and distribute work below.
00:16:58Today, we have inertia at the top of the hierarchical structure
00:17:01in ministries and administrations, and we don't have technical people on the ground. Today,
00:17:05if I gave you a proportional ratio between the people in the ministries and the people
00:17:09who work in the fields, I am certain that the people sitting in offices are more than the people working
00:17:13in the fields. This
00:17:15merging and we have seen international
00:17:19companies doing it. So, you are saying here, just so people understand,
00:17:22Professor Musa, there is a flaw in the structure in general? Of course, there is.
00:17:26How should it be?
00:17:29How should the situation be?
00:17:32And you, Professor Musa, I mean, please forgive me, some might
00:17:36wonder, this structure that you see as flawed,
00:17:39are you aware of all its details?
00:17:43I have all the details about it, and I am not
00:17:46far from it. I mean, actually, I travel the world, but
00:17:50I visit Syria every two weeks because
00:17:53I cannot live without Syria. And for 35 years,
00:17:57I never agreed to stay anywhere other than Syria. And I told
00:18:00you, I mean, he should have first presented
00:18:04to the council the new structure of the
00:18:07ministries. He is at the top of the hierarchy. He has a vice
00:18:11president for water, he has one
00:18:14for oil, he has one for energy, he has one for other things. And then
00:18:18he would show us, I mean,
00:18:21the structure. There is something else that you also saw as a problem,
00:18:24in short?
00:18:26In the way that we are also centralizing. I mean, when he said that we
00:18:30united and merged the administration in Damascus, I mean, with all due respect,
00:18:33if someone, and this is outside my scope, but I took it from the meeting.
00:18:37If someone, the director of water in Miyadin,
00:18:41the director of water and sanitation, needs something,
00:18:44he has to call Damascus. I mean, this is it. Is there delegation?
00:18:47Brother, he needs to distribute tasks. He cannot
00:18:52This is the reason for the mistakes.
00:18:55This is the reason for the conflicting
00:18:59numbers. He should have a complete
00:19:02team. We hear the numbers from Mr. Qablawi
00:19:06one way, and from the minister another way. He should have
00:19:09a technical team so that the numbers are consistent. And we wanted to see
00:19:13graphs, what the numbers are, what the models
00:19:16are, what's in them. I mean, to put it briefly, I mean,
00:19:19these are legitimate questions, perhaps all of them, Professor
00:19:23Musa, and the ministry itself, I mean,
00:19:26it should, I mean, receive these questions and answer
00:19:31I mean, I'll give you—I will return to you, Professor
00:19:35Musa, so as not to take up the time of the other guests. Dr. Nawwar,
00:19:39delay.
00:19:43the structure. Some also say that there was a flaw today even in the questions that
00:19:46were asked of the minister. The discussion delved too deeply into
00:19:50details that were perhaps unnecessary. Part of it diverted the topic
00:19:54and took it to the side in technical
00:20:09In the beginning, from a formal perspective, it
00:20:13is a session to the credit of the government and also to the credit of the People's Assembly. A new
00:20:18dealing between the government and the People's Assembly. And finally, someone is talking
00:20:22about promising and positive things, I mean, there are positive points and negative points. Let's talk about everything.
00:20:26What are the most important positive points so that we can focus
00:20:29on the negative issues? First, the principle, the principle that the
00:20:33Minister of Energy comes under public pressure, practically, and under pressure
00:20:37of the type, and at the request of a hearing, I mean, issued by
00:20:41the People's Assembly, and his presence was not routine. There was a request
00:20:46it is clear from the long presentation full of details and figures
00:20:49that he wanted to convince the People's Assembly of his point of view,
00:20:52and therefore he attaches importance to this institution, and this is a good beginning
00:20:56for the relationship between the executive and
00:21:00context that the questions were agreed upon, the minister was informed
00:21:03of all the questions, and the answers were prepared
00:21:06as a whole was agreed upon. There are
00:21:11at all, at all. I mean, it is not true at all. You are part of
00:21:15the inner workings. It is true that there is an energy committee in the People's
00:21:18Assembly that studied the issue and presented
00:21:21interventions at the beginning of the session. They were, I mean, longer
00:21:25than the interventions of the other representatives. Then the Minister
00:21:29of Energy presented a review of all his ministry's activities,
00:21:32not just the issue of oil derivatives, at all levels,
00:21:36and answered through this review some of the questions of the energy committee that were raised at the beginning. Then
00:21:39he opened the floor to all the representatives to speak with interventions.
00:21:43I mean, he certainly did not know them at all.
00:21:47The minister, nor even the energy committee. I mean, the representatives had complete freedom to speak in all
00:21:51interventions. I mean, the time was a little short because there were many questions, I mean.
00:21:56technical details in this session? Who
00:21:59is responsible for this? I mean, many of those who attended the session
00:22:07technical aspects." Here we start with the negative points, if you please.
00:22:14details and presenting the work of several ministries at the same time, while we are
00:22:18facing a specific issue, the request to hear about oil derivatives.
00:22:23details perhaps caused the problem to be lost, I mean. And also the questions,
00:22:28the questions were good and profound, and some questions were
00:22:31technical. What do you think was the most important question asked?
00:22:35I asked, of course, what was the content of the question? I mean, I, my
00:22:42the beginning who spoke, and I went straight to the core. I mean, I
00:22:45believe that the approach presented by the Minister of Energy, despite being
00:22:49very transparent and honest, and it is clear that the man has been making tremendous efforts since
00:22:52the liberation until now, and this is to his credit, the problem
00:22:56with the approach he presented is that he presented an approach based
00:23:00on the principle of cost and price, and this means that we have
00:23:03a commodity, this commodity costs such and such, we have to sell it for such and such,
00:23:07and therefore linking the price to the cost. This issue can be—with what
00:23:11should it be linked? In some cases, some luxury products,
00:23:14not at the level of energy, can link the price to the cost.
00:23:18But when you are talking about oil derivatives,
00:23:21the price is not linked at all to the cost. The price should be linked
00:23:26the country. It should be linked to people's ability
00:23:30to pay this price. It should be linked to
00:23:33the strategy you want for the economy. Do you want an economy that works
00:23:37with cheap energy, or do you want an economy that works with expensive
00:23:40energy? Therefore, when we linked the cost to the price, the minister's statement
00:23:43was clear that I have such and such a cost and I have such and such a price, and therefore I am losing.
00:23:49be spoken by the government, and here is the problem, and here
00:23:52is the point that the professor mentioned at the beginning, that the issue is not only about the Ministry of Energy.
00:23:56I mean, today, at this stage,
00:23:59there are obligations on the Ministry of Energy, and there is an increase in global prices,
00:24:03and there is a shortage in production, and therefore the oil balance is in deficit. We
00:24:06agree that the oil balance has been in deficit since the days of the defunct regime. It
00:24:10is not a new issue; it is inherited. But in the face of this deficit
00:24:13oil balance, you need a mechanism
00:24:18deficit. Is the mechanism that the Ministry of Energy resorted to, is this mechanism
00:24:21available now to the government or
00:24:25the Ministry of Energy specifically? It should be available, but the mechanism, the mechanism
00:24:29that it resorted to, or the solution that the Ministry of Energy resorted to, is the easiest
00:24:32solution, which is to raise the price. But what does raising the price
00:24:35of oil derivatives mean? It simply means inflation. Inflation
00:24:39generates inflation, and inflation enriches the powerful and weakens
00:24:42the poor. Inflation is a tax paid by the poor to the rich.
00:24:45Inflation leads us to a problem that exhausts the economy
00:24:49greatly and puts us in an inflation spiral. This is the big
00:24:53mistake when we talk about high oil derivatives. The mistake that
00:24:56you, you see from your perspective, what is the correct thing to do? The correct thing to do is to
00:25:00resort to policies, the wage
00:25:03and salary policy followed in Syria. I mean, when we talk about
00:25:06price policy, we must talk about wage policy. I cannot tell
00:25:10citizens that the price of the commodity in neighboring countries
00:25:13is fixed before I give them a salary equal to the salary in neighboring
00:25:19people to give them a quarter of a wage
00:25:23or half a wage. Therefore, in
00:25:26in the past period there have been
00:25:29salaries, despite that, wages are still
00:25:32low, because they were fundamentally low. I mean, during the days of the defunct
00:25:36regime, an employee received 20 dollars or 30 dollars. If you
00:25:39add, you are making 500% to become 100 dollars. But in neighboring
00:25:43countries, the minimum wages and salaries are different. Therefore, here,
00:25:47in the face of this deficit in the oil balance, it is necessary to have
00:25:50support policies. We must support the price of oil derivatives
00:25:53through the general state budget. But the problem
00:25:57is that the general state budget is in deficit, and the problem
00:26:01is that the fundamental issue is not with the Ministry of Energy, but with the Ministry of Finance,
00:26:04because there must be new revenues
00:26:08and sources of funding for the general state budget that take into
00:26:12account what are the most important sources of funding that should
00:26:16be sought? First, I, I mean, of course, there are funding sources related
00:26:19to the public sector and productivity, but I believe that
00:26:23the fair tax system that levies
00:26:26progressive taxes on the rich
00:26:29this issue in your intervention that there should be
00:26:32a reconsideration of the tax system and burdening the budget
00:26:36deficit on the rich. This is the gist of your statement. But
00:26:40this, this issue is not relevant to the Minister of Energy. What is this problem
00:26:44that today the Ministry of Energy and the Minister of Energy came forward
00:26:48to defend a problem that is not their fault?
00:26:51The issue, I mean, here, I just want you to give me a minute,
00:26:54because when we resort to tax revenues, the
00:26:58tax revenue system is the safest
00:27:01and most appropriate way to redistribute national income fairly
00:27:04and combat inflation. Therefore, these countries
00:27:07always resort to tax revenues, and when I talk about tax
00:27:10revenues, I am not talking about taxes on the poor and weak
00:27:13regarding wages, you believe that there should be
00:27:17an increase in fuel prices accompanied by an increase in wages
00:27:21as well? Well, you should always have fuel prices,
00:27:24I mean, prices should be commensurate with wages
00:27:28and salaries. But today, when you raise wages and salaries, you
00:27:31also enter into
00:27:36We lost
00:27:40Let's try to talk to Professor Adnan. connection with Professor Adnan Abd
00:27:44Al-Razzaq. Doctor, Doctor
00:27:46Mahmoud, I am with you, my brother, please, Professor
00:27:49Adnan.
00:27:52What is the best, I mean, this is what we are looking for now, what is the best
00:27:55way to deal with this situation? Exactly, but let me comment on a few points
00:27:59if you allow. Professor Nawar said that
00:28:02the oil balance deficit was special during Assad's time,
00:28:07is true, but they were promoting that. Why?
00:28:11According to the numbers, Syria's production in 2011 was about
00:28:14380 thousand barrels, and consumption was
00:28:17at its highest. And consumption was about 200 thousand
00:28:21barrels. And the numbers say that
00:28:2460% of Syria's exports
00:28:27the general budget was 25%, and to
00:28:31the gross domestic product perhaps 24%.
00:28:34So if the trade balance was profitable, I come here
00:28:37to a number that the Minister of Energy said today
00:28:41before the parliamentarians. He said that Syria's oil consumption
00:28:44is 300 thousand barrels. How was Syria's consumption in
00:28:482011 20,000 barrels, and now 30,000
00:28:51barrels? The population has decreased,
00:28:54the number of industrial establishments has decreased,
00:28:58and most of the establishments
00:29:01or stopped. So, is this number accurate? This
00:29:04is a question to the Ministry of Energy, and perhaps they will say
00:29:08that cars are the most consuming. This also refers
00:29:11us to the government and not to the Ministry of Energy regarding
00:29:15the decision to import cars, which I consider one of the major
00:29:19disasters that the government committed, whether by exporting
00:29:22foreign currency or by importing cars,
00:29:26turning Syria into a junkyard, and many results.
00:29:29I was working on the Minister of Oil, whom I did not hold
00:29:32responsible for the decision, to start today before the parliamentarians
00:29:36with an apology, saying that the decision
00:29:40has caused hardship and brought Syrians
00:29:43to the streets. Why don't we see a culture of apology
00:29:47and a culture of taking responsibility among Syrians?
00:29:50We saw the Minister today before the Parliament carrying
00:29:53the burden of justification and trying to justify
00:29:55and defend. Also, the last point in this regard, since
00:29:59Professor Nawar is with you and he is a parliamentarian,
00:30:02the people are now asking for the minister to listen.
00:30:07have the authority to interrogate or withdraw confidence
00:30:11or issue any decision that would hold him responsible. So,
00:30:15what does the Syrian citizen benefit from
00:30:18listening to the Minister of Education and then the Minister of Oil
00:30:21as long as the parliament has been stripped of its most
00:30:25important reasons and limits? A comment, Doctor, I have a comment. Do you want
00:30:28a comment? Let's hear Doctor Nour Fadel. First, regarding the oil
00:30:32deficit, what I said is very accurate. I mean, I can give you
00:30:35the numbers. We actually had an oil balance that was not in deficit before 2011. Even
00:30:39in the nineties, oil production in Syria reached 650 thousand
00:30:42barrels. Even until 2011, even until
00:30:462011. After 2011, I have been working
00:30:49in the sector and I know it perfectly, an expert, Professor
00:30:52expert. Adnan, by the way, he knows all these details. After
00:30:562011, oil production began to decline on December 8th.