Syria's Transport Ministry has signed a contract with the Chinese Zijan Timis Company whereby 600 buses will be imported to the country. According to SANA, the contract was signed by Syrian Transport Minister, Makram Obeid and Director of the Chinese company, Wang WI Gang.

The US$ 39 million contract will satisfy a third of the need of Syria's main cities - Damascus, Aleppo, Homs and Lattakia among which the buses will be distributed.

Following the signing of the contract, Obeid indicated that the first batch of the buses will arrive in Syria in mid of 2006. For his part, Wang said that in the next stage, maintenance and qualification centers will be established to take care of the new buses.