Euromed ministers give new impetus to trade and investment relations

Peter Mandelson said: "Trade is a strong driver of the EuroMed process, and the goal of a deep and comprehensive Euro-Mediterranean free trade area is what we are all striving for. It is particularly important that business is participating in our discussions today, as they are the backbone of any trade and investment relationship."

The goal of strengthening the trade pillar of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership up to and beyond 2010 will be built on a number of initiatives whose main lines are to be agreed at the Ministerial today. The objective is to move beyond the current liberalisation of trade in goods, and the steps now being taken to liberalise services and investment between the EU and the Southern Mediterranean. Some initiatives will be launched immediately, for example a Euro-Mediterranean trade facilitation mechanism to bring further transparency on trade and investment opportunities for economic operators across the region. These measures will create further opportunities for Mediterranean partners to attract investment and to enhance their comparative advantage in Euromed markets.

The 7th Euromed Trade Ministerial meeting will also take stock of on-going negotiations in the fields of services and establishment, agriculture and dispute settlement. Bilateral negotiations on the liberalisation of services and the right of establishment in the non-services sector have been launched with Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia in 2008. Just ahead of the meeting in Marseille bilateral negotiations on the establishment of a dispute settlement mechanism were finalised with Morocco and Tunisia. Negotiations on the further liberalisation of processed agricultural and fisheries products have been finalised with Israel and Egypt.

Background

Trade relations between the EU and the neighbouring Mediterranean (MED) countries are governed by the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (also referred to as the Barcelona Process), which was launched in November 1995. The partner countries are Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia and the Palestinian Authority, as well as Turkey. The EU is the most important trading partner for the region. EU exports to the MED countries were worth around €120 billion in 2007. This represents 9.7 percent of total EU exports, or 45 percent of MED countries' imports. Exports from the MED countries to the EU represented around 7.5 percent of total EU imports, and 47% of MED exports, worth €107 billion, in 2007.

For more information visit:

http://ec.europa.eu/trade/issues/bilateral/regions/euromed/ministerial2008/index_en.htm

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