Russia plans to invest $500 million in the Syrian port of Tartus and build a grain hub there to boost its presence on Middle East markets, Interfax news agency cited Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov as saying on Tuesday.
Russia, the world's largest wheat exporter, has stepped up grain supplies to support Syrian President Bashar Assad in recent years since Moscow's 2015 military intervention on his behalf in Syria's civil war.
Construction of the necessary infrastructure at the port, which Russia rented out for 49 years from Syrian authorities in 2017, could begin next year, Borisov was quoted as saying.
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