EU markets open to Egyptian exports
Egypt-European Union, Economics, 11/1/2002

Europeans markets are open to Egyptian exports, including agricultural produce, European Commission President Romano Prodi said yesterday following talks with Prime Minister Atef Ebeid.

Prudi noted that Egypt has become one of the important fresh -vegetables- exporting countries to European markets.

"The Egyptian and European sides will seek within the coming two or three years to increase the volume of agricultural exports to European countries up to 1,000 tonnes," Prudi added.

He told reporters that the association agreement signed between Egypt and the European Union (EU) will help increase trade exchange as soon as it is ratified.

"The EU's planned eastwards expansion poses no threat to Egyptian trading interests," he added.

"I don't see any competition arising from enlargement," Prodi told reporters.

The commission president's talks with Ebeid covered an association agreement signed in June last year giving Egypt greater access to EU markets, which has yet to be ratified by either side.

"We have every intention of continuing work together to complete the ratification of the association agreement," Ebeid said, describing his talks with Prodi as "very constructive."

The agreement will go to the Egyptian parliament for ratification in November, Ebeid added.

The EU is the biggest trading partner of Egypt, which exports oil, fruit, vegetables and textiles to the currently 15-member bloc.

The association agreement is part of a wider "Euromed" drive set up seven years ago to forge a free-trade accord between the EU and 12 countries on the Mediterranean seaboard by 2010.

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