The official bridge between Syria and the Netherlands
Unlike private networking groups or commercial associations, the Syrian–Dutch Business Council is an officially established bilateral body dedicated to strengthening economic cooperation between the two nations.
We provide a trusted institutional platform for businesses, investors, and public stakeholders to develop trade, investment, and long-term strategic partnerships.
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A full institutional platform for growth
Business Networking
Meaningful connections between companies, investors, institutions, and government stakeholders.
Trade Promotion
Supporting exporters, importers, and commercial partnerships across both markets.
Investment Facilitation
Connecting investors with opportunities and facilitating cross-border investment partnerships.
Market Intelligence
Market reports, investment insights, and sector analysis to inform confident decisions.
Institutional Cooperation
A reliable channel between the private sector and public institutions in both countries.
International Partnerships
Bridging our members into wider European and regional networks and opportunities.
What we set out to achieve
Trade Promotion
Facilitating bilateral trade by supporting exporters, importers, and commercial partnerships.
Business Networking
Creating meaningful connections between companies, investors, institutions and stakeholders.
Market Intelligence
Providing market reports, investment insights, and rigorous sector analysis.
Advisory Services
Supporting public and private initiatives through professional advisory services.
Investment Facilitation
Connecting investors with opportunities and facilitating investment partnerships.
One trusted platform, working toward sustainable bilateral prosperity.
Membership that opens doors on both sides
Join a select community of businesses and investors with privileged access to events, delegations, market intelligence, and introductions to public and private stakeholders.
News & announcements
Founded by official decision
Established by Decision No. 69, issued by the Minister of Economy and Industry, Dr. Nidal Al-Shaar, on 26 March 2026.
This official establishment gives the Council a trusted institutional standing, distinguishing it from private networking groups and commercial associations.
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To become the leading economic bridge between Syria and the Netherlands, fostering sustainable partnerships and creating new opportunities for trade, investment, and economic development.
Leadership of the Council
The board of directors of the Syrian–Dutch Business Council.
For companies seeking full access to networking, matchmaking, delegations and market intelligence.
For professionals, consultants and investors who want to be part of the network individually.
For institutions and organisations seeking a strategic partnership with the Council.
Extended by Board invitation in recognition of distinguished contribution.
Everything included
Members enjoy a comprehensive package designed to open doors, build relationships and drive bilateral opportunity.
Five simple steps
Personal details
Enter your details exactly as they appear on your official identification.
Contact & presence
Supporting documents
Upload your CV and any supporting documents (PDF, DOC — up to 10MB each).
Company details
Provide your registered company information as it appears on official records.
Authorised representative
Supporting documents
Upload registration certificate (or KVK extract), company profile, and any supporting documents.
Last updated: {{ privacyUpdated }}
1. Who we are
The Syrian–Dutch Business Council ("SDBC", "the Council", "we") is the bilateral business council promoting trade and investment between Syria and the Netherlands. We are the data controller for the personal data described in this policy. You can reach us at {{ contactEmail }}.
2. What we collect
We only collect data you give us yourself, through two forms on this website:
- Membership applications — name, date of birth, nationality, position, organisation, email, phone, company details (registration number, sector, address, website), social links, and the documents you upload (personal photo, CV, registration papers).
- Contact messages — first and last name, email, company (optional), and the content of your message.
We do not use advertising or analytics tracking cookies, and we do not build behavioural profiles of visitors.
3. Why we use it, and on what legal basis
- To assess and administer membership applications, and to contact you about them — on the basis of steps taken at your request prior to entering an agreement, and your consent.
- To answer enquiries sent through the contact form — on the basis of your consent and our legitimate interest in responding to those who contact us.
- To keep members informed about Council activities, events, and trade missions — on the basis of the membership relationship, with the option to opt out at any time.
- To protect the website from spam and abuse — on the basis of our legitimate interest in keeping the service secure.
4. Who can see it
Your data is visible to authorised Council staff and board members who need it for the purposes above. We also rely on a small number of service providers who process data on our behalf:
- Supabase — database and file storage for applications, messages, and uploaded documents.
- Cloudflare Turnstile — anti-spam verification on our forms.
- Vercel — hosting of this website.
We do not sell personal data, and we do not share it with third parties for their own marketing. We may disclose data where we are legally required to do so. Where data is processed outside the European Economic Area, we rely on the safeguards offered by the relevant provider, such as the European Commission's standard contractual clauses.
5. How long we keep it
Membership records are kept for as long as the membership lasts and for up to seven years afterwards, to meet administrative and legal obligations. Applications that are not accepted are kept for up to two years, so that we can recognise a returning applicant. Contact messages are kept for up to two years after the matter is closed. Uploaded documents are stored in a private, non-public storage bucket and are only opened through short-lived signed links.
6. Your rights
Under the GDPR you may ask us to give you a copy of your data, correct it, delete it, restrict or object to how we use it, or transfer it to another organisation. Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time — this does not affect processing carried out before the withdrawal.
To exercise any of these rights, email {{ contactEmail }}. We will respond within one month. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may lodge a complaint with the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens) or the supervisory authority where you live.
7. Security
Data is transmitted over encrypted connections and stored with access controls that restrict it to signed-in, authorised administrators. Applicant documents are never published to public links. No system is perfectly secure, but we review our arrangements as the Council grows.
8. Cookies
This site sets no advertising or analytics cookies. Cloudflare Turnstile may store a short-lived technical token on our form pages purely to confirm that a submission comes from a person rather than a bot. Your language choice is remembered in your browser's local storage and is never sent to us.
9. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as the Council's activities develop. The date at the top of this page always shows the current version, and material changes will be communicated to members directly.
Questions about this policy? Write to {{ contactEmail }} or use the contact form.