Egyptian- Saudi committee to meet in October

The Egyptian- Saudi joint high committee will hold a meeting in Cairo in the second half of the coming month under the chairmanship of the foreign ministers of the two states.

ArabicNews.com learned today that an agreement on establishing the free trade area between Egypt and Saudi Arabia is a replacement of the commercial side of the signed agreement between the two states on technical, investment, commercial, and economic cooperation, which was canceled last year, will take place during the meeting.

The new agreement will aim at liberating trade between the two states over the course of five years, and it will be implemented at the beginning of the coming year.

During the first year of the implementation plan of the agreement, the customs duties will be decreased by ratio of 40% from the actual customs duties between the two countries on the goods and products exchangeds. It will be decreased by 20% in the second year, 20% in the third year, and 10% in each of the fourth and fifth years, ending in 2004.