A meeting on the setting up of an Arab free trade area opened proceedings in Rabat this Tuesday, gathering foreign minsters of Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and the hosting country, and attended by the foreign ministers of Mauritania, Algeria, Libya, and representatives of Palestine, Syria and Lebanon.
Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia are already bound at the bilateral level by accords setting up free trade areas.
Projects to set up similar areas are under discussion between the other countries.
The four countries are also bound to the European Union by association accords while association accords between the European Union and Algeria and Syria are under negotiation.
It equally seeks agreement on a common plan of action between the participating countries and the European Union.
According to the Arabicnews.com, the meeting which is held at Morocco's invitation, is meant to set up an Arab-Mediterranean economic partnership as a first phase towards the establishment of an economic partnership between all the members of the Arab League and the creation of a common Arab market, as recommended by the latest Arab summit held in Amman in March.
The meeting, the first of the kind of the Arab-Mediterranean countries, is deemed as a new orientation in Arab action, it added – Albawaba.com
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