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Mediterranean: Free Trade Area with no Trading partners? |
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 18 January 2010 The Euromediterranean Free Trade area is scheduled to take off in 2010 according to the Euromediterranean Declaration of Barcelona. Euromed Ministers agreed last month [December 2009] that their
overall objective remains the establishment of Euromed Free Trade Area
at the horizon of 2010 though there have been little achievements.
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The outcomes in the targets adopted by the Euromed Trade Ministers
are very poor. There is no signed agreement with any single partner in
liberalizing trade in services and establishment, strengthening
regulatory convergence or the institutional and legal framework.
However, Ministers welcomed progress in building a network of Free
Trade Areas (FTA) with the entry into force of the Agadir Agreement
between Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt (2004) and the FTAs between Turkey adn
Egypt, and between Turkey and Syria.
Euromed Ministers generally endorsed the
Euromed Trade Roadmap beyond 2010 (the "Roadmap"), which has been
drafted by the Senior Officials Working Group established at the Lisbon
Ministerial, which held its final meeting in Marrakech, while noting
the reservations by some Southern Mediterranean countries on certain
aspects of the Roadmap.
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The Roadmap
identifies concrete actions that can enhance economic integration and
boost Euro-Mediterranean
trade and investment by 2010.Ministers
stressed the importance of the business participation in the
implementation of the Roadmap. Ministers encouraged the organization in
early 2010 of a Euro-Mediterranean business forum.
Ministers
welcomed the significant progress made by the Pan-Euro-Med working
group concerning the single regional convention on preferential rules
of origin for the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean area, which will replace the
current network of protocols, will allow the inclusion of the Western
Balkans into the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean system.
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Read more [Europe Press Release]
For more information:
Study on the "Economic Integration in the Euro-Mediterranean Region": This study conducted from December 2008 to September 2009 assessed the
impact of the Euro-Mediterranean FTA on the European Union and the
Mediterranean region.
Read study
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38th CPMR General Assembly
