BEIRUT, Jan 14 (AFP) - Syria will fail in its efforts to move toward a market economy until the regime relinquishes its monopolies, imprisoned former MP and dissident Riad Seif told Friday's edition of Lebanese daily An-Nahar.
"I do not believe there is a sincere willingness to evolve toward a market economy because the political regime cannot meet the criteria of transparency and fair competition," he was quoted as saying.
"The regime has major monopolistic interests and a large part of the Syrian economy is dominated by the members of the regime."
Syrian leaders said recently that they aimed to put the country on the path toward a market economy.
But Seif said those who had accumulated much of the country's capital had little interest in encouraging fair competition or transparency.
"One cannot forget that a large percentage of national wealth is held illegally by people in power," he said.
Seif, who is also a businessman, was sentenced in April 2002 to five years in prison by a penal court for having "attempted to change the constitution by illegal means". He had denounced nepotism in the parliament.
The arrest of Seif and nine other dissidents came after a period of six months known as the "Damascus Spring" marked by free expression and dissent after President Bashar al-Assad took power in July 2000, named after the Prague Spring and its brief flowering of civil rights.
The interview was conducted by a Syrian reporter passing himself off as a friend during a visit by Seif's family at Adra prison outside Damascus.
01/14/2005 15:05 GMT - AFP