Oman ’targets July FTA deal’
Gulf Daily News, 16 February 2005
Oman ’targets July FTA deal’
MUSCAT: Oman will sign a free trade agreement with the US in July, its Trade and Industry Minister Maqbool bin Ali said yesterday.
The US Embassy in Muscat refused to confirm an agreement had been made, and the minister said there would further negotiations with the US next month and in April.
The agreement will become effective in 2006 if it is approved by the US Congress, Bin Ali told a meeting of business executives.
He said a US delegation will visit Oman on March 12 to 14 to discuss the accord and an Omani delegation will hold talks in the US on April 18.
A third GCC member, the UAE, is negotiating for a free trade accord with the US.
Egypt is extending by one week a deadline for companies to apply for inclusion in a partial free trade deal with the US, Foreign Trade and Industry Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid said in Cairo yesterday.
The original deadline expired yesterday. By then, 420 companies and factories had applied to be included, Egypt’s Middle East News Agency quoted Rachid as saying.
Under the Qualified Industrial Zones (QIZ) agreement signed in December, Egypt can export goods to the US without duty or quota restrictions provided they come from seven selected zones and contain at least 11.7 per cent Israeli input.
Public, private and foreign firms manufacturing in the zones are eligible to participate.
