Egypt
A number of African governments have made efforts to encourage investment in the continent by entering into bilateral investment treaties and adopting arbitration legislation.
As Egypt continues to grow at a near-unprecedented rate, Australia is looking to claim its share of the most vibrant and diverse economy in the region. Relations between the two countries go back decades, but Australian trade officials admit ties still need work as they eye opportunities in Egypt’s strategic location, large local market and lucrative free-trade agreements (FTAs) - including the EU-Egypt Association Agreement - that open the door to even larger markets.
Egypt and the European Union failed to wrap up a "neighbourhood action plan" because of differences over human rights in Egypt and nuclear weapons in the Middle East, an EU official said yesterday.
The World Economic Forum on the Middle East concluded in Egypt last month with the drawing up of a list of objectives aimed at driving the growth of the regional economy. In the wake of these talks one thing is clear; business in many sectors is booming and Egypt’s manufacturing industry is reaping the rewards of the Arab Free Trade Agreement (AFTA).
After breaking the ice by launching the preferential trade agreement among Developing Eight (D-8) countries, Indonesian Trade Minister Mari E. Pangestu envisions that the agreement would lead to a free trade arrangement for member countries in less than 15 years.
Despite a free trade agreement between Morocco and Egypt, entered in force in 1999, trade exchanges remain meager between the two.
In Egypt, just because a couple is engaged doesn’t mean they’ll get married.
At a recent AmCham gathering, discussions with a US congressional staffer made clear that if FTA negotiations were not launched soon, Egypt would have to wait until at least 2010.
"The time is not right." US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez’s terse statement summed up his answers to repeated questions as to why negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) between Egypt and the US appear to have been abandoned.
An Egyptian official yesterday said that the timing of signing a free trade agreement (FTA) "wasn’t appropriate from the Egyptian and US points of view".
Rachid Mohamed Rachid, Egypt’s trade and industry minister, criticised Washington yesterday for mixing business with politics in its decision to freeze negotiations on a free trade agreement.
The United States will not seek a free trade agreement with Egypt this year because the "timing" is not right, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.
The time is not right for the United States and Egypt to begin negotiations on a free- trade agreement, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an interview on Friday with Arab media.
Disarray on the political side of the house casts the side of free-trade talks with the United States into question.
According to US Trade Representative for Europe and the Middle East Shaun Donnelly, the only Arab country under consideration for beginning FTA talks before the summer of 2007 is Egypt.
This week the issue of a potential US- Egyptian free trade agreement (FTA) emerged back in the spotlight. Reports coming from Washington suggest that the Bush administration has once again put on hold Egypt’s long aspired to dreams of a bilateral FTA.
The United States signed a free-trade agreement on Thursday with Oman, a moderate Gulf state and ally in the US war on terrorism, while keeping trade talks with Egypt on hold amid concerns over its commitment to democracy.
Egypt risks missing its chance to clinch a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States if talks do not kick off in the coming weeks, an official with the US Congress said.
The Bush administration is considering free-trade negotiations with Egypt, South Korea, Malaysia, and Switzerland, the US Trade Representative’s top agriculture trade negotiator said Monday.
PhRMA believes that a strong FTA is in the interests of Egyptian patients
as well as the business community.
