EUROPEAN NEIGHBOURHOOD AND PARTNERSHIP
INSTRUMENT
SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC
STRATEGY PAPER
2007 – 2013
&
NATIONAL INDICATIVE PROGRAMME
2007 – 2010
1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................. 2
1.
THE OBJECTIVES OF EU CO-OPERATION .................................................................. 3
1.1 EU external policy, the Barcelona process and the European Neighbourhood Policy .... 3
1.2 Strategic objectives of EU co-operation with Syria......................................................... 4
2.
THE CHALLENGES FACING SYRIA ............................................................................... 5
2.1 Political situation ............................................................................................................. 5
2.2 Economy and trade........................................................................................................... 8
2.3 Social development ........................................................................................................ 12
2.4 Energy, transport, environment, information society and media................................... 13
2.5 Conclusions.................................................................................................................... 16
3.
THE SYRIAN GOVERNMENT’S REFORM AGENDA................................................. 17
3.1 The Tenth Five-Year Plan (2006-2010)......................................................................... 17
3.2 Constraints on implementation ...................................................................................... 18
4.
THE LESSONS LEARNT FROM EC CO-OPERATION IN SYRIA ............................ 19
4.1 Overview of past and ongoing EC co-operation programmes....................................... 19
4.2 Key lessons learnt from the 2002-2006 Syria Country Strategy ................................... 21
4.3 Co-ordination wi