DUBAI (Bloomberg) -- National Bank of Kuwait, the Persian Gulf state's biggest lender by market value, plans to operate a joint venture in Syria as it seeks to tap economic growth and continue its expansion outside the Persian Gulf.

“We want to start a bank in Syria,” Chief Executive Officer Ibrahim Dabdoub said Sunday in a telephone interview from Kuwait. “Syria has big potential,” its gross domestic product grew 5.5 percent last year and its exports are rising, he said.
NBK, as the bank is also known, would own 49 percent of the venture when it receives regulatory approval from the Central Bank of Syria, and the remaining 51 percent would be Syrian-owned, Dabdoub said. A decision will be made in the next few months, he added. Dabdoub did not name any potential partners.
Syria, which is under U.S. sanctions, is targeting 7 percent economic growth by 2010, Abdallah Dardari, the deputy prime minister for economic affairs, said in comments published by the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency Jan. 28.
The country introduced a new law offering incentives to investors, to bolster growth and create jobs, Dardari said in January. The new law allows investors to own or rent land and to take profit out of the country in any currency.
Last week, Qatar National Bank SAQ, the Persian Gulf nation's largest lender, said it plans to open a bank in Syria with three partners.
Syria attracted 26 percent more foreign investment last year, despite U.S. economic sanctions, Al-Hayat reported in February, citing Mustafa Abdullah al-Kufri, director of the Syrian Investment Authority. Investments rose to 470 billion Syrian pounds (9 billion dollars) in 2006, from 374 billion pounds in 2005, the Saudi-owned newspaper said.
--------------- NBK's expansion
NBK bought 40 percent of Turkish Bank last month to tap into Turkey's expanding economy. Banks in the Persian Gulf region are growing between 15 and 20 percent a year and need to expand outside their home markets, which are becoming saturated, Dabdoub said last month.
The Kuwaiti bank is bidding for Egypt's fourth-largest bank, El Watany Bank of Egypt. EFG Eurobank Ergasias SA of Greece and Commercial Bank of Kuwait SAK are also bidding and a decision is expected this month, Dabdoub said Sunday.
National Bank of Kuwait, which has 63 branches in Kuwait, operates in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Iraq, Bahrain, and Lebanon. The bank has also received a license to operate in the United Arab Emirates.
The U.S. expanded its sanctions against Syria in 2004, accusing the country of hindering the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq, seeking to develop weapons of mass destruction and supporting terrorist organizations