Syria and EU agree on WMDs

BEIRUT: Syria and the European Union have reached an agreement on weapons of mass destruction (WMD) that had bogged down an economic association agreement, a Western diplomat said in Beirut. The preliminary agreement, which still needs to be agreed by EU foreign ministers, is the fruit of discussions held during a visit by an EU delegation to Damascus last week, the diplomat said. Syria is the only Mediterranean country in the EU’s “Barcelona process”, launched in 1995 with the aim of bolstering trade and political ties in the region, not to have concluded an association agreement with the bloc. Libya is not party to that process, but has observer status at some of its meetings. The talks with Syria had been held up by the EU’s requirement that all such agreements now include a clause committing both sides against the proliferation of WMD. afp

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