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- Syria
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Bilateral trade and trade relations between the European Union and Syria have been substantially impacted over the years by human rights and international humanitarian law violations committed by the government of Bashar al-Assad.
Prior to 2011, the EU was one of Syria's main trading partners, with bilateral trade peaking at over €7 billion in 2010. In response to the Assad regime's brutal repression of peaceful demonstrations in 2011, and to its widespread violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, the EU adopted autonomous restrictive measures against Syria, including an oil embargo, trade restrictions, and the freezing of certain Syrian assets. Trade of food, medical equipment or medicines is exempt from EU sanctions.
More information on sanctions is available here.
On 8 December 2024, the Assad regime collapsed. In the critical transitional period in Syria, the EU stands with the Syrian people and has stepped up its engagement to support a peaceful and inclusive Syria-led transition, address humanitarian needs, and help efforts towards economic recovery.
In this spirit, as early as February 2025, the EU suspended sanctions on key economic sectors (energy and transport) and introduced new exemptions to allow the banking sector to re-engage with Syria in these sectors, and to make the transactions needed for reconstruction and economic recovery. In May, the EU lifted its economic sanctions on Syria, while maintaining sanctions on Assad and his accomplices, as well as those imposed on security grounds.
In June 2025, the Council adopted conclusions outlining the EU's position on the challenges facing Syria.
Trade picture
- With the EU implementing restrictive measures against Syria since 2011, bilateral trade volumes have decreased substantially over the years since - and have primarily comprised humanitarian aid, rather than commercial transactions. In 2024, total trade in goods between the EU and Syria amounted to €368 million.
- The EU’s imports from Syria were worth €103 million in 2023.
- The EU’s exports to Syria amounted to €265 million in 2023.
The EU and Syria
Until 2011, bilateral EU-Syria relations were governed by a Cooperation Agreement signed in 1977. Syria and the EU had also negotiated a new Association Agreement to replace the Cooperation Agreement and to establish a new, closer relationship within the context of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership launched by the 1995 Barcelona Declaration.
The Association Agreement was initialled on 14 December 2008 but was never signed, due to concerns over the regime’s human rights record. The Cooperation Agreement was partially suspended in 2011 due to repression by the Assad regime at the time. The partial suspension concerns the application of the Cooperation Agreement for certain products, in particular petrol products and precious metal and stones.
Syria in the Southern Neighbourhood
Syria is one of the countries in the EU’s so-called Southern Neighbourhood under the European Neighbourhood Policy (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine*, Syria and Tunisia). However, Syria (like Libya) does not have an Association Agreement with the EU.
The EU established a privileged partnership with the Eastern and Southern shores of the Mediterranean back in 1995 with the launch of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership at the Barcelona Conference, aiming to establish an area of peace, stability and economic prosperity that upholds democratic values and human rights.
However, after peaceful protests were brutally repressed leading to the outbreak of the Syrian conflict in 2011, the EU suspended its cooperation with the Syrian government under the European Neighbourhood Policy framework.
More information on the Southern Neighbourhood
Trading with Syria
- Importing into the EU from Syria
- EU trade defence measures on imports from Syria
- Exporting from the EU to Syria
- Trade relations are part of the EU's overall political and economic relations with Syria
- Syria is a member of the World Trade Organization
*This designation shall not be construed as recognition of a State of Palestine and is without prejudice to the individual positions of the Member States on this issue.