8th Regional Congress of the Syrian Ba'ath Party

Central Committee's report The report to Congress, prepared by the Central Committee, emphasized the need to modernize the agricultural sector, increase productivity levels, and strengthen Syria's economic model as a whole. By that time, Syria was already facing a growing shortage of consumer and producer goods, such as (in some areas) bread or building materials, and its production in the textile industry had declined. In the same report, the period of the Islamist uprising was referred to as a period of conspiracy against the region and the revolution (it is not entirely clear which specific revolution was meant: the March 8 Revolution or the Corrective Revolution) and was described as one of the most difficult periods in Syrian history. == Congress ==

Regional Congresses in Syria were key moments in shaping the country's state policy and governance. Assad's powers as general secretary of the party were extended. == Aftermath ==

Election of a new Central Committee and the Regional Command Following the congress, a new Central Committee and a new Regional Command were elected (however, as a result, Regional Command's composition remained almost unchanged - essentially, the only officials who were not re-elected to the Regional Command were the allies of Rifaat al-Assad, who attempted a coup d'état in 1984). The Jama'a, that is, the politicians closest to Assad personally, controlled the nomination of candidates and their election to these bodies. Militarization plan As part of strengthening their regional position, the delegates discussed the militarization of Syria. There was a general consensus that the pace of militarization was insufficient and needed to be accelerated, so the congress began developing a plan to reduce spending on all non-military aspects of citizens' lives in order to direct the "saved" funds towards increasing arms purchases. Interfering with military spending in order to reduce it was prohibited. Nevertheless, the congress paid great attention to the balance between the private and public sectors of the economy (although before the congress there was strong support among some delegates for strengthening the public sector and increasing control over the private sector, after the congress the Infiraj policy was revived - in April 1985, Muhammad al-Imadi, the architect of the Infiraj policy, was reappointed Minister of Economy). State control over the economy and imports was reduced again. Soon, Syria received investments from West Germany, the European Investment Bank, and Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development. The 9th Regional Congress was held from June 17 to 20, 2000. == See also ==