Syria Today | AA to be concluded by mid-year

AA to be concluded by mid-year

EU Commissioner for External Affairs and Neighbourhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, said on February 16 that the long-delayed EU-Syrian Association Agreement (AA) will be ratified by the middle of the year.

Ferrero-Waldner made the comments during a visit to Damascus, saying the agreement had been referred to the EU Council of Foreign Ministers for ratification.

“I believe that the Association Agreement is the right platform to support further the ongoing economic reforms in Syria, and I will dedicate all my efforts to its conclusion in the near future,” Ferrero-Waldner said. “The EU has been supporting Syria’s ongoing reform process through providing technical and financial aid, as well as loans from the European Investment Bank.”

Syria’s AA, on hold since 2004, was revised and initialled in Damascus on December 14 last year. AAs are in force with all EU partners in the Mediterranean, except Syria and Libya.

During the period 2007-2010, the European Commission is providing Syria with a SYP 7.9bn (EUR 130m) assistance package to support economic, social and administrative reform. For the year 2009, SYP 2.4bn (EUR 40m) will be devoted to the promotion of decentralisation, the reform of social protection and the modernisation of the health sector. Since 2007, the commission has also provided SYP 3.6bn (EU 60m) for projects aimed at addressing the needs of the large population of Iraqi refugees in Syria.