Syrian and Saudi businessmen on Wednesday put a cornerstone to a "construction market" project with a total cost of 40 million U.S. dollars which deals with trade and the industry of building materials, the official SANA news agency reported.

The project, to be executed by the Saudi Eid Group, is situated in the Maraba region near Damascus and stretches on an area of about 150,000 square meters.

It includes shops, gardens, green areas, restaurants and different service utilities. The average of buildings is 25 percent of the total area.

"I wished to invest in Syria because it enjoys an attractive atmosphere of investments in addition to security and stability in the country," Mohammad Dib Eid, Director of the Saudi group, was quoted as saying in a statement.

"I also wanted to contribute to pushing the way of the Syrian economic growth forward," he added.

Source: Xinhua