Negotiations on the Association Agreement between European Union and Syria
Syria-European Union, Politics, 3/15/2003

The 10th Round of negotiations on the Association Agreement between the European Union and Syria took place in Damascus on 12 and 13 March 2003. The negotiation teams were headed by Tawfik Ismail, Head of the State Planning Commission, on the Syrian side, and on the European side by Christian Leffler, Director for the Middle East and South Mediterranean at the European Commission.

At a press briefing was held on Thursday, Leffler said "we are committed both the European Union side and the Syrian side to bringing these negotiations to completion as soon as possible." He added that this requires a lot of work in the negotiations sessions and between themselves.

He continued that during the two day meetings good progress was made in creating better understanding for our respective views and ambitions in many fields in finding agreed texts for the agreement, adding "But we still have a challenging agenda ahead of us which will require continued efforts on both sides in order to maintain a sufficient momentum to advance and ensure early completion to these negotiations." He said the two sides have examined four main area, and that on the political dialogue cooperation the two sides were able to identify the few remaining issues to be resolved, but need to be examined further.

He added that on the area of Justice, immigration, crimes, drugs and money laundering as well as of our common fight against terrorism "we have made very good progress and we are close to an agreement on those chapters." Leffler said that in the area of economic cooperation "we are making good progress, reflecting our determination to complete the good work to build on the momentum of what we had done before the EU delegation goes back to Brussels." Expressing commitment to finalize the Association Agreement with Syria, Leffler said "we are keen to make sure that we made a good progress and our exchange are permanent and continuous." Leffler said on the issue of trade in agricultural product "we know the symbolic value and the sensitivity of the agricultural sector and agricultural export to Syria." He said that the Syrian counterpart knows its sensitivity in Europe, but stressed that the EU "will of course, look at the Syrian requests and suggestions on the field of agriculture."

Shedding more light the overall ambition and value of work that has to be accomplished between the two sides, Leffler said that in the area of trade "we have looked into principles that should govern this area," adding but still "we need details." He elaborated that in a number of other areas, "we still need to examine together all elements of the text of the agreement."

On a final date to sign the Association Agreement between Syria and the EU, Leffler said "I am cautious when it comes to a certain date. What I can say that I can agree with that we should endeavor to bring this process forward as quickly as possible to identify the issues which need reconsideration at the high level we represent in order to be able to represent our leaders on the resulted issues and requests to give us further guidance to follow up to reach a conclusion."

Leffler said "we are negotiating association agreement. Of course there are differences in sizes in economic development between the EU and Syria and we want to help each other as partners."

He concluded that the main objective of the negotiations of the Association Agreement is to make sure that the Syrian economy can take its place in pride and confidence in the international community.

The negotiations of the Association Agreement are conducted in the framework of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership launched at the Barcelona Conference in 1995 by the European Union, on the one hand, and 12 Mediterranean Partners, on the other hand, with the aim of creating an area of peace and prosperity in the entire Mediterranean region.

Bilateral Association Agreements, which have been completed with all Partners except Syria, aim at establishing a regular political dialogue, creating a free trade area between the European Union and the Mediterranean Partners and at providing a permanent framework for cooperation in economic, social and cultural fields.

During this round of negotiations, both parties discussed the text of the agreement establishing a regular political dialogue between Syria and the EU, including on human rights issues, and cooperation in the fields of justice, immigration, fight against organised crime, and counter-terrorism. On the economic side, discussions covered provisions pertaining to the creation of a free trade area through the progressive liberalisation of movement of goods, in industry and agriculture, as well as a framework for economic cooperation in wide-ranging areas. The negotiations between Syria and the European Union started in 1998 and the last discussions took place in Brussels in November 2002.

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