Turkey, Syria To Cooperate

After decades of enmity, Syria and Turkey have launched a strategic cooperation agreement. This month, the two neighbors signed an agreement meant that included cooperation in the defense and military sectors. The accord also saw the removal of restrictions along the border between Syria and Turkey.

“The brotherhood that exists between our people has been lifted to the political level with joint Cabinet meetings to be held between our two governments,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. Officials said the government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan regarded Syria as part of Ankara’s “zero problems with neighbors” policy.

They said Ankara and Damascus have decided to establish what was termed a high-level strategic cooperation panel.“Turkey is your second country and the people of Turkey have opened their arms to welcome you without the need for a visa,” Davutoglu said.

At a joint news conference on Sept. 17, Davutoglu and his Syrian counterpart, Walid Mualem, agreed to lift customs on trade between the two countries. They said trucks that shuttle between Syrian and Turkey would be exempt from taxes. “This is the biggest demonstration of cooperation, solidarity and mutual trust,” Mualem said.

However, Bulent Alireza, a senior researcher at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies commented that “the increasingly close relationship with Damascus, combined with the recent strains in the relationship with Tel Aviv, seems certain to raise additional questions about a possible change of direction in Turkish foreign policy in the Middle East.”

In 2009, Syria and Turkey launched its first military exercise. The exercise took place along the border.The analysts said the Turkish military has not been enthusiastic over cooperation with Syria. Syria has long been seen by the Turkish military as a haven for the Kurdish Workers Party, which has been conducting a long time insurgency operation against the Turkish government.

Some senior Turkish officials said Syria has drafted plans to offer asylum to Kurdish Workers Party operatives. They said the Syrian offer, praised by neighboring Turkey, would demand that the PKK agents renounce violence and surrender their weapons. “Our fight against the terrorist organization would be affected a great deal if some of these Syrians quit the organization and climb down the mountain,” Turkish Chief of Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug said.

In a briefing on Sept. 22, Basbug said the PKK contained an estimated 1,500 Syrian fighters, or more than one-third of the total insurgency force. He said Syrian members of the PKK were based in Iraq’s Kandil mountains.

The Syrian offer was announced by President Bashar Assad in mid-September. Assad said Syrian members of PKK could be allowed to return home if they renounce membership in the insurgency group.

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More funds for vital investment in EU’s neighbourhood

The EU’s Neighbourhood Investment Facility (NIF) will be formally launched today, May 6th, by External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, representatives of EU Member States and ENP partner countries.

The NIF is a key instrument of the ENP and will mobilise additional funding for infrastructure projects mainly in the energy, transport and environment sectors in the entire area. The Commission has already made available €100 out of the €700 million it intends to allocate to the NIF for the period 2007-2013. On top of this, the Facility is open to contributions from all EU Member States.

"Concrete projects financed under this facility will bring tangible benefits to citizens of the neighbouring countries and the Union alike and will bring our partners closer to the EU,” Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner has said.

France, Morocco economic partnership deals

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon on Friday announced the signing of a raft of economic tie-ups with Morocco, alongside the sale of a naval warship to aid defence coordination.

"France is to sell a FREMM (European Multi-Mission Frigate) to Morocco," Fillon told a press conference in Rabat. "It is identical to those in the French fleet, which will make cross-naval cooperation straightforward." The agreements were originally reached in October during President Nicolas Sarkozy's visit, with the frigate contract compensating Paris after the collapse of a deal to buy Rafale fighter aircraft from French manufacturers Dassault.

The other major element was a grant of 75 million euros (120 million dollars) for a feasability study on a high-speed rail line between Tangiers, across the Gibralter Straits from Spain, and Casablanca on the Atlantic coast. The line would plug into France's TGV network, already extended across European borders, and Fillon said that during their lunchtime meeting, King Mohammed VI expressed his desire to see it extended inland to Marrakech.

France will also loan Morocco 150 million euros for the installation of a tram network in the capital Rabat, with two French companies -- Alstom and Colas -- having been chosen for the engineering project.

Judicial and social conventions make up the remainder of the package signed in the presence of Fillon's counterpart, Abbas El Fassi. Fillon said the ninth Franco-Moroccan intergovernmental seminar had shown that there is "not the slightest disagreement between France and Morocco" and that the two countries had a shared outlook which was "perfect".

AFP

Russia swaps Libya debt for deals

Russia has agreed to cancel $4.5bn (£2.3bn) of Libyan debt in exchange for major contracts for Russian firms. The announcement came during a visit to Tripoli on Thursday by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin. Libya was a big importer of Soviet weaponry during the Cold War, when it accumulated large debts.

The two countries signed deals on energy co-operation, military assistance and construction of a 500km (310-mile) railway line in Libya.

Russia's state gas monopoly Gazprom plans large-scale exploration and production projects with Libya's national energy company. They will include liquefied natural gas installations and gas-fired electricity plants in Libya.
Russia will provide the technology for Libya to build a major rail link between Sirte and Benghazi. Construction is expected to take four years.

Gazprom is also holding preliminary talks with Nigeria about a multibillion-dollar project to deliver Nigerian gas to Europe via a pipeline across the Sahara. The project is costed at $10bn for the pipeline and $3bn for other installations, delivering up to 30bn cubic metres a year of gas to Europe. The 4,128km (2,580-mile) pipeline from Nigeria will cross Niger and Algeria. Mr Putin said Libya "is orientated towards the most active co-operation with Russia in all areas".

President Putin is now in Sardinia for talks with Italian Prime Minister-elect Silvio Berlusconi. The Italian firm Eni is also involved in big energy projects in Libya and already has a close partnership with Gazprom.

Egypt Suez Canal revenues hit record

Egypt's revenues from the Suez Canal climbed to $422.6 million in October 2007 from $345.2 million in the same month last year, the government said on Monday on its Information Portal Web Site. Canal revenues were $403.7 million in September.

The Suez Canal is an important source of foreign currency for Egypt, along with tourism, oil and gas exports and remittances from Egyptians living abroad. The number of vessels passing through the waterway rose to 1,787 in October from 1,761 in September, and from 1,689 in October 2006, the report said. Reuters

MEDSTAT II meeting

General Directors of the Mediterranean Partner Countries' National Statistics Institutes were in Brussels on September 6-7, 2007 at the invitation of EuropeAid and Eurostat for the first Partnership Group Meeting organised within the framework of the MEDSTAT II regional programme.

The aim of the meeting was to bring together all those involved in the project for a frank discussion about the results achieved so far and future challenges, as well as to start a dialogue on future statistical cooperation in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

Euro-Mediterranean statistical cooperation began in 1996 through the regional programme MEDSTAT. Ten years later (January 2006), MEDSTAT II, a three-year, €30 million programme, was launched with ten partner countries (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey). It deals with statistics in nine thematic sectors (Trade, National Accounts, Social Statistics, Energy, Agriculture, Environment, Tourism, transport and Migration) and three horizontal sectors (Training, Information System and Dissemination). The programme’s main objective is to strengthen the capacity of the partner countries’ National Statistics Institutes and each country’s own National Statistical System.