North Korean Minister of External Economic Relations Kim Yong Jae arrived in Damascus on Saturday to hold economic talks to counter sanctions and sign new memoranda of understanding (MOU), according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).

Meetings at the Dama Rose Hotel in Damascus began later on Saturday and will continue through Tuesday, SANA reported, with signing ceremonies on MOUs of various kinds to be held on Wednesday.

Kim departed Pyongyang on December 5with a stop in Beijing, and appears to have arrived in Damascus two days later via a Syrian Air flight, which appeared in a video