IP/08/542
Brussels, 8 April 2008
Investment summit aims to boost regional
integration and EU investment in Southern Mediterranean
Leaders from the signatories of the Agadir
Agreement (Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan) are today meeting senior EU
policy-makers and business representatives for talks designed to sharply
increase EU investment in the Southern Mediterranean. The forum focuses on
improving legal frameworks for investment, encouraging joint partnerships
between EU and Southern Mediterranean businesses and boosting EU investment in
the region, which is among the lowest for any such region globally. The Forum
was opened by EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson.
Peter Mandelson said: "Although they increasingly trade with the EU, it is
just as important to help the countries of the Agadir Agreement to develop their
trade with each other. The countries of the Agadir Agreement have taken a big
step in creating a free trade agreement. We need to reinforce that by boosting
EU investment in the region. Despite their closeness to Europe and their
promising growth, the countries of the Southern Mediterranean have attracted
only 1% of EU foreign investment since 2000. We need to change that."
Background
The EU is a strong supporter of the 'Agadir Agreement', which was signed in
2004, establishing a free trade agreement between Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and
Jordan. After a long ratification process the agreement became operational in
April 2007. The goal of the EU and the Southern Mediterranean countries remains
an EU-Mediterranean free trade area by 2010.
- The Agadir Agreement liberalises all industrial trade between signatory
countries and a large part of their agricultural trade.
- The Agadir agreement provides a useful framework for future work harmonising
technical standards between the signatories, which is necessary to encourage
trade.
- The Agadir agreement ensures businesses in signatory countries can produce
goods in more than one of their economies without losing their preferential
tariff rates for the EU market. This means a shirt can be made with Egyptian
cotton and finished in Morocco and still exported to the EU at a highly
preferential tariff rate.
- The European Commission has provided technical and financial as well as
political backing for the process. The Agadir Technical Unit in Amman, which
acts as the secretariat for the Agreement , has been supported with
€4million in EU financing. This support is expected to continue.
- Southern Mediterranean countries stand to make substantial gains from
attracting new investment. Foreign investment flows into the Mediterranean
region are still very low. The share of this region in the EU’s total
direct investment abroad in 2006 was €4.9billion – around 2% of EU
FDI. Since 2000, the Mediterranean countries have attracted on average only 1%
of the EU outward Foreign Direct Investment. Liberalisation of investment
regimes, coupled with the creation of an integrated regional market, will have a
positive impact on the level of domestic and foreign investment in the
Mediterranean region. According to an OECD study from 2001, these gains are at
least of the same magnitude as those derived from trade liberalisation, if not
greater.
- Investment is particularly important for the growing services sectors of the
Agadir countries. The services sector is key to the economies of the Southern
Mediterranean countries. Services accounted in 2005 for about 47% of GDP in
Egypt, 55% in Morocco, 72% of GDP in Jordan and 59% of GDP for
Tunisia.
For complete programme and list of participants see: http://www.agadiragreement-events.org/
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