The EU has decided to suspend all preparations in relations to new bilateral cooperation programmes and to suspend the ongoing bilateral programmes under ENPI and MEDA.

In a mid-term perspective, which coincides with the EC-Syria Country Strategy Paper (2007-13) and the ETF Mid-term Perspective 2010-13, the ETF intends to continue tailor-made resource investments to support the ongoing reform process of the country, as well as other meaningful initiatives. In its meeting with the Vice-Prime Minister of Economy and follow-up interministerial meetings in 2009, the ETF has been asked by the Syrian Government to support the country to build the necessary capacities and conditions for policy-wide interventions in the field of human resources development. Input to the development and monitoring of the up-coming five-year plan has been requested, and in particular a transition survey from school to work to look into the effectiveness of education and the labour market.
This study will feed into the overall macroeconomic assessment currently underway in Syria in cooperation with the World Bank.

In the new five-year plan and the country strategy paper, SME development and privatisation remain major priorities for the economic reform process. The development towards a market economy implies an increase in the number of SMEs in Syria and there will be a need to make them aware of good practice regarding training and human resources development. The ETF continues to contribute through the dissemination of the principles of the Euro-Med Charter for SMEs, to support EU initiatives. This allows the main stakeholders to be informed about progress and status in line with the objectives of the Charter prepared for Syria, to enable comparisons with countries in the region covered by the MEDA programme, to create synergies with other countries, and to disseminate and exchange experiences in a wider EU context.

In addition, the ETF together with SEBC will continue to provide capacity building measures for the “SKILLS” Business Training Programme for young people who wish to become entrepreneurs. The ETF will continue to provide its expertise on latest developments in entrepreneurship learning in the EU as well as on reforms of transition economies in education and employment and its relevance for Syria. The initiative enjoys high-level support from the government and the EU.

Furthermore the Torino Process and the Business and Education Study will contribute to the government’s priority on human resource development reforms and build on the work already carried out in this area.

The ETF approach consists in bringing institutions together, building bridges between different projects in the area of human capital development for the labour market, work consistently on the few selected themes above to achieve a joint understanding of the priorities and thus develop long-term cooperation.