EU, Syria to initial Association Agreement next month
Xinhua 2008-11-26
EU, Syria to initial Association Agreement next month
BRUSSELS, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) — The European Commission and Syria announced here Tuesday that they are set to initial the Association Agreement in Damascus on Dec. 14 after they agreed on all issues regarding the update of the draft document, which was reached in 2004.
"Following thorough and constructive discussions, on November 25, the Syrian delegation and the Commission services agreed on all issues regarding the update of the Agreement, taking into consideration developments since its initialing in October 2004," said a joint statement issued by the European Commission and the Syrian delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Abdullah Al Dardari.
Both sides agreed to initial the updated agreement on Dec. 14 in the Syrian capital, and will submit it to their respective authorities for consideration and subsequent signature.
Both sides lauded the achievement, which "is based on the common will and mutual interests of both sides," as "an important milestone" in EU-Syrian bilateral relations.
The European Commission — the executive arm of the European Union — and Syria concluded a far reaching draft Association Agreement in 2004. However, the EU Council could not reach a consensus on its signature. In order to re-launch the procedure for its signature, the agreement needs to be updated to take into account the latest EU enlargement and other developments in the EU and in Syria, such as the reform of the Syrian Customs Tariff. Association Agreements are in force with all the Euro-Mediterranean partners, expect with Syria and Libya.
The EU provides financial assistance to Syria to support its economic, social and political reform, with the EU budget allocated to this end for the period 2007 to 2010 amounting to 130million euros (some 102 million U.S. dollars). In addition, the European Commission has provided an amount of 24 million euros (19million dollars) to implement projects aiming at addressing the needs of the large population of Iraqi refugees in Syria.
