FM criticizes EU decision to sign cooperation treaty with Syria

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Syria was scheduled Tuesday to sign a wide-ranging agreement on political and economic cooperation with the European Union after more than five years of negotiations long stalled over the issue of weapons of mass destruction.

The Hebrew daily Maariv reported that Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom criticized the EU decision to wrap up the deal. The report said Shalom noted the United States was stepping up pressure on Syria, one of seven countries branded by the U.S. State Department as a sponsor of terrorism.

The "Association Agreement" is similar to those the EU has already concluded with Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, Lebanon and Morocco as part of a plan to build trade and political ties across the Mediterranean Sea.

Syria's was delayed by its reluctance to sign up to a clause committing to the nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction that the EU has insisted upon in all such agreements since late 2003.

Negotiators wrapped up a deal last month by rewording the clause to satisfy both sides. EU officials declined to release the exact wording ahead of the signing of the document but said it was in keeping with the Union's demands.

Under the agreement, both sides commit to eradicating trade barriers over the next 12 years. Other clauses seek to make it easier for companies from both sides to invest and compete in each other's markets. The EU is Syria's biggest export market.

"If we invest this agreement correctly, benefits would certainly be huge," the Syrian state-run daily Tishrin said in an editorial.

The agreement also sets up regular political talks on issues such as counterterrorism, immigration, drug smuggling and human rights.

It will free up an $100 million EU aid package aimed mostly at boosting economic reforms in Syria over the next two years.

Apart from Algeria, Syria is the only one of the EU's Mediterranean partners that regularly records a trade surplus with the bloc, mainly thanks to oil.

EU exports to Syria in 2003 stood at around $2.7 billion, while Syria exported $3.9 billion to the European bloc.

The EU accounts for 30 percent of Syrian imports and 55 percent of its exports.