Establishment of free trade zone between Egypt and USA delayed

It was decided to delay the signing of an agreement for establishing a free trade zone between Egypt and the USA for an indefinite term after the US Congress' refusal to grant the administration permission to negotiate to reach such an agreement.

An official source told ArabicNews.com that US officials informed President Hosni Mubarak about this matter in his last visit to Washington on June 28.

The source stated that President Mubarak and US President Bill Clinton agreed on the importance of establishing the free zone but in studied steps, especially as Washington asked to increase the volume of trade between the two countries to reach a level that requires signing a free trade agreement and that Cairo has been seeking for years to ratify this agreement.

The sources added, "The two sides will work on developing exports between the private sectors" and said that U.S Secretary of Commerce William Daley will visit Egypt in October.

Daley is to lead a delegation including 20 businessmen concerned with developing relations with Egypt, and Cairo will send a delegation representing the public and the private sectors to visit Washington in November.