President Ahmed al-Sharaa is on his first trip to Germany since ousting Syria’s longtime leader Bashar al-Assad in late 2024.

Interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has been received by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin before talks with Chancellor Friedrich Merz on rebuilding his country and the return of refugees.

“Our interest is in seeing Syria rebuilt as a stable and prosperous nation, including with the help of the many, many Syrians who came here to Germany and Europe during the civil war and found refuge here,” government spokesman Stefan Kornelius said before Monday’s talks.

Speaking at a Federal Foreign Office forum in Berlin on Monday, al-Sharaa said: “We want to put this difficult time behind us and now catch up with the rest of the world.”

He pointed to investment opportunities in Syria’s energy, transport and tourism sectors, describing his homeland as diverse and with “a great wealth of people”.

“We stand with Syria,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said, pledging to support reconstruction efforts. “The Syrians deserve a chance, and we want to help ensure that this opportunity is well utilised.”

Al-Sharaa also suggested that he would like to see some of the Syrians who fled to Germany return to help with its reconstruction.

“These are Syrians who have studied at German universities, acquired German expertise and are now working in German companies,” he said. “Through investments in Syria, they can then bring this expertise back to Syria.”

Al-Sharaa was initially planning to visit Germany in January, but the trip was postponed as he sought to end fighting between Syrian government forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the country’s north.

Refugee issue

A demonstration against the plan to send refugees back to Syria has been registered in Berlin on Monday under the slogan “No deportation deals with human rights abusers”.

About one million Syrians fled their war-torn country for Germany in recent years, many of them arriving at the peak of the influx in 2015-2016 to escape the war.

The conservative Merz, who took power in May, has stepped up a drive to limit irregular immigration as he seeks to counter the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany party.

Merz said last year that with Syria’s war over, Syrians now have “no grounds for asylum in Germany”.

The government in December resumed deportations to Syria although only a handful of cases have gone ahead so far.

Merz also said he assumed many Syrians would return home voluntarily, drawing criticism from campaign groups who cited continued instability and rights abuses in Syria.