The EU is aiming to bolster investment ties with Syria, at a major forum in Damascus next week, as part of a wider effort to help stabilise the country and curb the influence of Iran and Russia, allies of the former Assad regime. Europe is putting in "serious work and funding into rebuilding Syria", an EU official told The National. "If Syria can develop its own prosperity and security and project that to the neighbourhood, we, as the EU, as well as the broader region, have a lot to gain."