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French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to visit Syria to discuss bilateral relations and regional issues, Syria's presidential media directorate announced Sunday, in what would be the first visit by a head of an EU member state since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in 2024.
Syria's state news agency SANA, citing the presidential media office, said Macron would be accompanied by a delegation including investors and representatives of French companies.
No date for the visit was given.
Macron and Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa will hold a roundtable session with their respective delegations, according to SANA.
Talks are expected to cover bilateral relations, economic cooperation, and regional and international developments.
The visit will build on al-Sharaa's trip to Paris last year, during which the two leaders met at the Élysée Palace to discuss strengthening ties, respecting Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and expanding cooperation across sectors, according to SANA.
The last French president to visit Syria was Nicolas Sarkozy in 2009, before Assad's government crushed pro-democracy protests in 2011, sparking a conflict that killed more than half a million people and devastated the country's infrastructure.
Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani was the first foreign head of state to visit Damascus after the new authorities took power, followed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in January and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in April.
Macron would be the first head of an EU member state to make the trip.
The announcement followed a bombing at a Damascus cafe on Thursday that killed 10 people, the latest security challenge for Syria's new authorities as they seek to reunify the country after more than 13 years of civil war.
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