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The EU seeks to develop a closer relationship to Syria, which would provide for political dialogue, mutually beneficial trade and investment relations, and cooperation on economic, social and democratic reform.
EU-Syria relations are governed by a Cooperation Agreement signed in 1977. Syria is a signatory of the 1995 Barcelona Declaration  and a member of the Union for the Mediterranean. Syria is also a member of the European Neighbourhood Policy, but does not yet benefit from all its instruments and incentives, pending entry into force of the Association Agreement.
Signature of a draft EU-Syria Association Agreement initialled in 2004 was put on hold as the EU considered political circumstances not right at the time. In late 2008, the 2004 draft Agreement was updated, mainly to take into account reform of the Syrian Customs Tariff and enlargment of the EU. This revised version of the Agreement was initialled on 14 December 2008. The EU formally agreed to proceed with signature of the Association Agrement on 27 October 2009. Syria's agreement to sign is pending. The Association Agreement will provisionally enter into force after it is signed by Syria and the EU, full entry into force is subject to the assent of the European Parliament and ratification by EU Member States.
Priorities of our co-operation with Syria are defined in the Country Strategy Paper and National Indicative Programme   . The main aim of this co-operation is to support Syria’s domestic reform process.
See also: Mid Term Review of the ENPI Programming Documents - Syria  .
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