hello and welcome. i m raya abirached and this is world business, your weekly insight into the global business trends shaping our lives. over the last decade syria has undergone a series of fundamental internal changes. once a soviet style command economy it is now attempting to embrace features of a western style, social market. as part of our occasional series looking at frontier markets we went to damascus to find out how far it has come. reporter: damascus. the world s oldest, continuously, inhabited city. and, for most of the last fifty years, a city living under the discipline of a state controlled economy. kahale: opportunity was limited, the law was very complicated for investors. and that s why people who wereca - it was like bringing a ferrari and let it run away in a desert. reporter: a move to a more free market was first considered in the nineteen eighties but the discovery of oil meant the government could continue business as usual. that oil though is now r
hello and welcome. i m raya abirached and this is world business, your weekly insight into the global business trends shaping our lives. over the last decade syria has undergone a series of fundamental internal changes. once a soviet style command economy it is now attempting to embrace features of a western style, social market. as part of our occasional series looking at frontier markets we went to damascus to find out how far it has come. reporter: damascus. the world s oldest, continuously, inhabited city. and, for most of the last fifty years, a city living under the discipline of a state controlled economy. kahale: opportunity was limited, the law was very complicated for investors. and that s why people who were coming abroad to work in syria - it was like bringing a ferrari and let it run away in a desert. reporter: a move to a more free market was first considered in the nineteen eighties but the discovery of oil meant the government could continue business as us
hello and welcome. i m raya abirached and this is world business, your weekly insight into the global business trends shaping our lives. over the last decade syria has undergone a series of fundamental internal changes. once a soviet style command economy it is now attempting to embrace features of a western style, social market. as part of our occasional series looking at frontier markets we went to damascus to find out how far it has come. reporter: damascus. the world s oldest, continuously, inhabited city. and, for most of the last fifty years, a city living under the discipline of a state controlled economy. kahale: opportunity was limited, the law was very complicated for investors. and that s why people who were coming abroad to work in syria - it was like bringing a ferrari and let it run away in a desert. reporter: a move to a more free market was first considered in the nineteen eighties but the discovery of oil meant the government could continue business as us