Summary: 12 February 2009, Brussels - On her first visit to Syria as European Commissioner for External Relations and Neighborhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner will meet with Syrian President, Bashar Al Assad, Vice President, Farouk Al Sharaa, Vice Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, Abdullah Al Dardari, and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Walid Al Moallem. During the visit, she will discuss the EU-Syria bilateral relations including the process for concluding the Association Agreement that the EU and Syria have negotiated. She will also discuss recent regional developments and seek Syria's contribution to solving the regional crisis.
Before she left, Benita Ferrero-Waldner said: "2008 was an important year for Syria both in its relations with the region and with the EU! I value the recent positive developments in Syria's regional policy, in particular the establishment of diplomatic relations with Lebanon and the indirect peace talks with Israel, which I hope will be pursued when the time comes. In a difficult regional context we need the constructive role of all players and I encourage Syria to continue on this track!"
She added: "These steps are also an opportunity to bring Syria and the EU closer and to support further the on-going economic reforms in the country. I believe that the Association Agreement is the right platform to do so and I will dedicate all my efforts to its conclusion in the near future".
The Association Agreement with Syria, on hold since 2004, was revised and initialled by the Commission and Syria last December. The text of the Agreement is now for the consideration of Member States. Association Agreements are in force with all the EU partners in the Mediterranean, except with Syria and Libya, which whom the EU is at the moment negotiating one.
During the period 2007-2010, the European Commission is providing Syria with a €130 million assistance package to support economic, social and administrative reform. For the year 2009, €40 million will be devoted to the promotion of decentralisation, the reform of social protection and the modernisation of the health sector.
In addition to the above, since 2007, the Commission has provided an amount of €60 million to implement projects aiming at addressing the needs of the large population of Iraqis refugees in Syria.
Additional information on the EU-Syria relations at
http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/syria/index_en.htm
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