Egyptian-Iraqi free trade agreement goes into effect
Iraq-Egypt, Economics, 8/20/2001

An Iraqi official Sunday said that a free trade agreement signed between his country and Egypt earlier this year, went into effect mid-August.

Trade Minister Mohamed Mahdi Saleh added that the two countries are seeking to increase their trade exchange to reach over 2 billion dollars during 2001.

He added that with the enforcement of the accord, Egyptian products would compete with other products at the Iraqi market.

The agreement, signed last January, was endorsed by Egyptian parliament in July 2000.

The Iraqi official put at 5 to 200 percentage of customs exemption accorded to Egyptian products under the agreement.

Director of the Egyptian Trade Centre in Baghdad Aouni Hashem Sunday expected that the volume of Egyptian contracts with Iraq would increase within the coming period.

He expected Egyptian-Iraqi contracts, signed as part of the oil-for-food programme tenth phase, to reach $ 2.6 billion, especially after putting into effect the Free Trade Area (FTA) agreement in mid-August.

In statements to MENA correspondent, Hashem said the Egyptian-Iraqi FTA is considered a step forward on the road of achieving Arab economic integration.

The coming days will witness more development in Egyptian-Iraqi relations as all Egyptian exports to Iraq will be exempted from customs duties," Hashem said.

Under the FTA agreement, Iraqi products will be treated as national commodities.

Egyptian companies take leading position In Iraqi fairs : Egypt ranked first in the number of participating companies in the Baghdad International Fair this year.

Fawzy Hussein, Director of Iraqi Fairs, said 418 Egyptian companies out of 1,254 Arab and foreign companies have showcased their developed industries in various fields.

He underlined the Egyptian companies' participation in cementing trade relations between the two counties, adding trade exchange exceeded $ 2.6 billion.

The cooperation protocol signed between the two countries in the field of fairs activation last February will help augment the number of joint fairs and exchange of information, expertise and training, said Hussein.

He noted that an Iraqi products fair will be set up in Cairo next September while an Egyptian information technology (IT) and communications fair will be held in Baghdad on September 25-29.

Previous Stories:
  Iraq ready to implement free-trade zone with Egypt   (7/5/2001)
  Egyptian parliament approves trade agreement with Iraq   (6/27/2001)
  Trade exchange between Egypt, Iraq   (6/16/2001)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search