| Bahaa Bassatni 26/10/1998 |
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With Syrian origins, Bahaa Bassatni got his education in Lebanon where he was raised up. With a BA in Law and Political Science, he got the sense of dealing with people and interacting from his father who used to work in grain trading. In 1960, he moved to Damascus where he directed a contracting company which built the first bridge upon Barada River. The best resources of nature, i.e., oil attracted Bassatni. Thus, he signed-together with his father- one of the largest oil export contracts with Iraq. He exported huge quantities of oil to Lebanon and then signed another contract for exporting cement from Egypt. After his father's death, he established the first international oil company in the Arab world. In the nineties, he had relations with Cuba though the Americans put it under curfew; hence, he managed to save Cuba especially after the Soviet Union collapsed by importing oil to it and getting sugar in return. Ricardo Karam interviewed Bahaa Bassatni in London, United Kingdom.