diff --git a/src/passes/2-simplify/ligodity.ml b/src/passes/2-simplify/ligodity.ml
index 92877e722..06928f754 100644
--- a/src/passes/2-simplify/ligodity.ml
+++ b/src/passes/2-simplify/ligodity.ml
@@ -60,17 +60,6 @@ module Errors = struct
     ] in
     error ~data title message
 
-  let unsupported_string_catenation expr =
-    let title () = "string expressions" in
-    let message () =
-      Format.asprintf "string concatenation is not supported yet" in
-    let expr_loc = Raw.expr_to_region expr in
-    let data = [
-      ("expr_loc",
-       fun () -> Format.asprintf "%a" Location.pp_lift @@ expr_loc)
-    ] in
-    error ~data title message
-
   let untyped_fun_param var =
     let title () = "function parameter" in
     let message () =
@@ -446,8 +435,11 @@ let rec simpl_expression :
       in
       return @@ e_literal ~loc (Literal_string s')
     )
-  | EString (Cat _) as e ->
-      fail @@ unsupported_string_catenation e
+  | EString (Cat c) ->
+    let (c, loc) = r_split c in
+    let%bind string_left = simpl_expression c.arg1 in
+    let%bind string_right = simpl_expression c.arg2 in
+    return @@ e_string_cat ~loc string_left string_right
   | ELogic l -> simpl_logic_expression l
   | EList l -> simpl_list_expression l
   | ECase c -> (
diff --git a/src/test/contracts/string_arithmetic.mligo b/src/test/contracts/string_arithmetic.mligo
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..89d77ff60
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/contracts/string_arithmetic.mligo
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+(* Test that the string concatenation syntax in CameLIGO works *)
+
+let concat_syntax (s: string) =
+  s ^ "test_literal"
diff --git a/src/test/integration_tests.ml b/src/test/integration_tests.ml
index 7f0b9190a..6a44a8d65 100644
--- a/src/test/integration_tests.ml
+++ b/src/test/integration_tests.ml
@@ -203,6 +203,11 @@ let string_arithmetic () : unit result =
   let%bind () = expect_fail program "slice_op" (e_string "ba") in
   ok ()
 
+let string_arithmetic_mligo () : unit result =
+  let%bind program = mtype_file "./contracts/string_arithmetic.mligo" in
+  let%bind () = expect_eq program "concat_syntax" (e_string "string_") (e_string "string_test_literal")
+  in ok ()
+
 let bytes_arithmetic () : unit result =
   let%bind program = type_file "./contracts/bytes_arithmetic.ligo" in
   let%bind foo = e_bytes "0f00" in
@@ -921,6 +926,7 @@ let main = test_suite "Integration (End to End)" [
     test "arithmetic" arithmetic ;
     test "bitiwse_arithmetic" bitwise_arithmetic ;
     test "string_arithmetic" string_arithmetic ;
+    test "string_arithmetic (mligo)" string_arithmetic_mligo ;
     test "bytes_arithmetic" bytes_arithmetic ;
     test "set_arithmetic" set_arithmetic ;
     test "unit" unit_expression ;