Syria
Syria is a beneficiary of the EU's Standard GSP. With a per capita income of $1,052 (2022), the World Bank classifies the country as a low-income economy. In 2023, total EU imports from Syria amounted to €137 million, the highest value since 2012. Imports eligible for GSP preferences stood at €52 million in 2023, of which only less than €0.5 million actually made use of the preferences.
What is the GSP?
The Standard GSP targets developing countries that are classified by the World Bank as lower or lower-middle income countries and which do not have equal preferential access to the EU market through any other arrangement. Standard GSP beneficiary countries can benefit from duty suspension for non-sensitive products as well as duty reductions for sensitive products across approximately 66% of all EU tariff lines.
At a glance: EU preferential imports from Standard GSP beneficiary countries (2023, € million)
23.6M (2023)
Population
Presidential Republic
Government
0.7% (2022)
GDP Growth
no data
Inflation
$ 23.6B (2022)
GDP
Facts about Syria's economy
Conflict-struck Economy
The conflict in Syria has had a severe impact on the life of the Syrian population. Likewise, the conflict led to an immense decline in the per-capita income and an increase in poverty. Therefore, Syria was granted access to special funds for the world’s poorest nations in 2016.
Export Products
Syria's most important exports in 2023 were olive oil and calcium phosphate. Other exports are mostly agricultural products including cumin seeds, tomatoes, pistachios, almonds, lentils, and figs.
Trade Partners
Syria's trade relations are very diversified. The most important trading partners in 2023 were regional countries: Egypt, Lebanon, the UAE, and Jordan, with the EU ranked fifth. China and the EU are the most important suppliers.
Economic Structure
Services and agriculture are the two most important sectors, each contributing more than 40% to the overall GDP (2023), employing about a quarter of the Syrian population. The processing of cotton as well as wool and nylon are important for the manufacturing sector supplemented by industrial engineering industries including cement, glass, batteries, and pharmaceuticals. Food processing is another important sector and includes the processing of salt which is extracted from the country's salt lakes, vegetable oils, canned fruits and vegetables, tobacco, and dairy products.
Usage of GSP Preferences
Although 65% of Syria's exports to the EU were eligible for GSP preferential tariffs in 2023, the preference utilisation rate, which represents the ratio of preferential imports to GSP eligible imports, stood at less than 1%.
Trade with the EU
Total trade with the EU summed up to €882 million in 2023. With a share of 6.7% the EU is Syria's fifth most important trading partner, ranking second as a source of imports and fifth as an export destination for Syrian products.
Syria and the EU
Imports from Syria by product section (2023, € million)
Imports from Syria over time (€ million)
SYRIA AND THE EU GSP
Economic Impact
65%
Share of Syria's exports to the EU that were eligible for reduced tariffs granted by the GSP in 2023.
1%
Syria hardly made use of GSP preferences in 2023.
28%
Share of zero-duty imports from Syria.
Preference utilisation and export diversification
EU imports from Syria (€ million)
Preference utilisation (%) vs. total eligible imports (in € million)
More than half of the EU imports from Syria are eligible for GSP preferences, and their value has steadily increased since 2016, reaching 52 million in 2023. However, since 2020 the preference utilisation rate has been below 10%.
The largest product sections under the GSP (€ million, 2023)
The civil war had a considerable impact on Syria’s export diversification. The number of traded tariff lines decreased substantially since the beginning of the war. The most prominent sections under GSP is prepared foodstuff and beverages (S04b) and fruits, nuts and vegetables (S02b), which combined account for about half of preferential imports. Thus, overall exports to the EU remain concentrated on a small bandwidth of products. Despite almost 100% of imports of articles of stone, plaster, as well as apparel, clothing and other textile articles are eligible for GSP preferences, the country did not make use of GSP regulation in 2022.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
As a beneficiary of the Standard GSP, Syria is not obligated to ratify any conventions to be able to benefit from preferential access to the EU market. Nonetheless, Syria has ratified all 15 core international conventions on human and labour rights. This includes 7 UN human rights conventions and 8 ILO conventions on labour standards. Additionally, Syria has ratified 8 conventions on environmental protection and 3 conventions on good governance aspects. Syria has also signed the UN Convention against Corruption.
Core international conventions on human rights and labour standards
Ratified
- Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948)
- International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1969)
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1976)
- International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (1976)
- Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1981)
- Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1987)
- Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990)
- Convention concerning Forced or Compulsory Labour, No 29 (1930)
- Convention concerning Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise, No 87 (1948)
- Convention concerning the Application of the Principles of the Right to Organise and to Bargain Collectively, No 98 (1949)
- Convention concerning Equal Remuneration of Men and Women Workers for Work of Equal Value, No 100 (1951)
- Convention concerning the Abolition of Forced Labour, No 105 (1957)
- Convention concerning Discrimination in Respect of Employment and Occupation, No 111 (1958)
- Convention concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment, No 138 (1973)
- Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, No 182 (1999)
Additional Conventions
- Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (1973)
- Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (1987)
- Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal (1989)
- Convention on Biological Diversity (1992)
- The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992)
- Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (2000)
- Stockholm Convention on persistent Organic Pollutants (2001)
- Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1998)
- United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (1961)
- United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances (1971)
- United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (1988)
- United Nations Convention against Corruption (2004)
EU-Syria Bilateral Development Cooperation
DG NEAR
Access all info about EU-Syria relations on the European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR) website.