Jordan Times
Friday, June 22, 2007
Agadir Agreement member states launch work of technical committee
Industry and trade ministers of the four signatory members of the Agadir Agreement on Thursday signed minutes of their
first meeting of the ministerial commission which was held in Amman.
Under the agreement, the member states will establish a free-trade area to enable the Arab Mediterranean partners to
gradually expose their economies to increased
competition and proceed faster with economic integration and liberalisation.
The meeting was held to mark the start of actual work by the technical committee taking into consideration that the
agreement came into force last year.
At the opening ceremony, the ministers highlighted the importance of the role of the technical committee to overcome
obstacles on promoting the partnership with the private sectors and organising training activities.
During the meeting, discussions tackled several issues related to the work plan of the technical committee during the
coming two years.
The ministerial commission reiterated the need to coordinate positions of the four countries, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and
Jordan, in their current negotiations with the European Union (EU), particularly with regard to liberalising trade in
services.
In order to achieve the desired coordination, they called for holding periodic meetings prior to the negotiations date,
underlining the importance of coordinating their stances at Arab, regional and international meetings.
It was also agreed that the Agadir Agreement technical committee should carry out a study on implementing the agreement on
agricultural goods.
The commission also decided to hold seminars to raise awareness and acquaint businessmen, in their respective countries,
with the advantages of the Agadir Agreement and means to benefit from it through increasing their exports to EU markets.
A promotion seminar will also be held in Brussels to draw European investments to the region.
Also on Thursday, Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit reiterated that Jordan pins great hopes on the agreement to increase the
Kingdom’s exports to EU countries through the accumulation of the rules of origin among the four member states that have
signed the agreement.
During a meeting with the industry and trade ministers of the Agadir Agreement signatory states, Bakhit expressed hope that
other Arab countries would join the agreement in the near future, saying it was an important step to achieve Arab economic
integration.