date:Dec 16, 2013
d in recent months to buy food through tenders for rice, sugar, flour and wheat, although some deals have been struck outside of that process using middlemen.
Prospects for an especially hard winter have made Syria's plight even more urgent with the U.N. planning its first food airlift into the country.
Syria in the past has asked to pay for its food purchases through an unlocking of funds frozen in international bank accounts.
Industry observers said its new approach using the Export Develop