Damascus, President Bashar al-Assad met with a number of Baathist economics professors from various government universities. President al-Assad stressed that finding solutions to our challenges and problems is a cumulative process in which dialogue plays a major role because it creates the right vision and policies. President al-Assad said that the dialogue cannot be productive at the level of major economic, social and political issues unless it is systematic, comprehensive and continuous at the level of society, institutions, the media, and among various segments and sectors, and supported by a scientific, practical, and academic mentality. Several topics were addressed during the dialogue, such as the required identity of the Syrian economy, socialism, subsidy policies, corruption, economic development and growth policies. The public sector and its role in the State and the partnership with the private sector to reactivate production were also discussed at the meeting. President al-Assad considered th at when we talk about subsidy as being based on ideology or a charitable motive, it will not be successful, as there is no country or society that follows this approach, adding that when we see the subsidy as part of the economy, only then it turns into a useful situation; subsidy is necessary, even the most capitalist countries provide it , but its form and the mechanisms are different. Source: Syrian Arab News Agency