Agadir declaration experts call for materializing free-trade area

The commission of top officials, stemming from the Agadir Declaration on the creation of a free trade area among Arab Mediterranean countries, has called for materializing the free-trade area project concluded between Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan.

Experts from the four countries will be meeting on a monthly basis to look into trade issues and define origin rules and customs cooperation, a statement of the Moroccan foreign affairs and cooperation ministry said.

The commission seeks to help in the inception, the soonest possible, of the free-trade area between the four countries. The head of the Moroccan delegation mentioned in this regard the agreements signed between the four countries and the European Union on bilateral basis and their adherence to the convention for an Arab free trade area and to the World Trade Organization.

The Agadir Declaration, signed in the presence of King Mohammed VI, in May 2001 by Morocco, Jordan, Tunisia and Egypt provides for the creation of a free-trade area of Mediterranean Arab countries. The area remains open to other Arab countries wishing to join.