India and Syria will sign nine agreements ranging from agriculture to information technology during Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's three-day visit to the country. Vajpayee will arrive in Damascus late tonight. His visit marks the first substantial bilateral contact between the two countries after President Bashar al-Assad came to power three years ago.

The two countries have also agreed to upgrade their Joint Trade Committee to a Joint Commission.

Union Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley will head the Indian side; Syria will be led by Minister of Education and Science and Technology Hani Murtada. The two countries will also will form a Joint Business Council. Captains of the Indian industry will visit Syria early next year.

The two countries will also sign an agreement covering literary activities between India's Sahitya Academy and Syria's Arab Writers Union, official sources told PTI.

The wide ranging agreements aim to lift the bilateral trade, which currently languishes at around a low $ 130 million when compared to India's trade ties with the Gulf Arab States. Syria's trade turnover with India is however higher than its trade with Egypt.

The agreement on IT may open the doors of opportunity for Indian IT majors as Syria is on the threshold of an IT revolution after the technology-savvy al-Assad came to power.

In December 2001, some 60,000 people in Syria were connected to Internet. A study has said the number of Internet users would grow at an annual rate of 43 per cent in the next five years.

Vajpayee and al-Assad will also inaugurate a centre for biotechnology at Damascus University. The centre is a joint collaboration between Syria and India. Syria also has an ongoing training programme for its scientists in top biotechnology institutes in India.

India's hand of friendship towards Syria comes at a time when Damascus is facing isolation from the West and when Capitol Hill has passed the Syria Accountability Act, paving way for more sanctions against the country.