Summary: Euro-Med Trade talks in Marrakech will launch services talks and boost FTA plans (Brussels: 23 March 2006)
Trade Ministers from the EU and the Mediterranean countries will meet on Friday 24 March 2006 in Marrakech, Morocco, for the 5th Euro-Med Trade Conference to foster trade and economic relations across the Mediterranean. During this meeting, Trade Ministers are expected reinforce their commitment to the creation of an integrated Euro-Mediterranean Free trade area by 2010. The conference will be followed by the formal opening of negotiations on the liberalisation of trade in services and improvements to rules for establishing businesses throughout the Euro-Med region.
Speaking before his departure to Marrakech, Commissioner Mandelson said: "The opening of services trade between the EU and the countries of the Mediterranean will benefit economic growth and stimulate investment. Launching these services negotiations is an important milestone on the road to a Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area".
Alongside the liberalisation of services, Ministers will examine ways and means to reinforce south-south regional integration, strengthen regulatory convergence on industrial products, deepen agricultural liberalisation, and improve the institutional and legal framework. Ministers will also discuss the on-going DDA talks and the progress to be achieved in order to reach a successful outcome by the end of 2006 or early in 2007.
The Marrakech agenda
Ministers will exchange views on how to strengthen regional integration under the Barcelona process and reinforce their commitment to the creation of a Euro-Med Free Trade Area by 2010.
Ministers will define the next steps in bringing regulation in the EU and the Euro-Med countries closer. The goal is to give Euro-Med partners a stake in the European Union's internal market by ensuring that Mediterranean industrial products can enter the EU market without additional testing and vice versa.
Ministers will consider the next steps in the liberalisation of agricultural trade between the EU and the Euro-Med countries in processed and unprocessed agricultural products and fisheries.
Discussions will be launched on improving the procedural rules included in the Association Agreements to provide for simpler dispute settlement.
Ministers will also exchange views on the last developments in the multilateral trade DDA negotiations.
In the margin of the Ministerial conference, Commissioner Mandelson will formally launch the negotiations on the liberalisation of trade in services and improvements to rules for establishing businesses throughout the Euro-Med region. The Ministerial will agree a negotiating framework and set a timetable for negotiations.
Background on the Barcelona Process
Four months after the Barcelona Summit which marked the 10th anniversary of the Barcelona process, the Marrakech Ministerial comes at an important time. It aims to reinvigorate the Euro-Med process with an ambitious work programme in the trade area.
One of the major goals of the Barcelona Process is the creation of a Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area by 2010. An essential part the Euro-Med process has been the negotiation of Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreements between the European Union and Mediterranean countries. Association Agreements between the EU and all the Mediterranean countries except Syria have now entered into force. The EU is linked to Turkey by a Customs Union.
Since 1995, several initiatives have sought to encourage regional integration in the Southern Mediterranean and trade between Euro-Med countries. A number of Free Trade agreements have been concluded, including FTAs between Turkey and Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt.
For more on the Euro-Med process see MEMO/06/139, now available on RAPID or visit: http://europa.eu.int/comm/trade/index_en.htm
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