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Belgium:US – Oman FTA gathers steam,
Saudi Arabia ‘alarmed’ |
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2005-3-18
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Negotiations have begun between the US and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman towards a free trade agreement (FTA), starting a new set of bilateral FTA talks in the Middle East.
Concluding the first round of talks, Assistant US Trade Representative Catherine Novelli discussed bilateral trade issues with both the countries.
Both the Arab world countries expressed hope that they would be able to conclude agreements with Washington by the end of the year.
According to Omani Commerce and Trade Minister Maqbool bin Ali Sultan the Mach 12-14, 2005 talks in Muscat had finalized almost 70 percent of the terms and conditions of an eventual FTA.
Next round of official talks are slated in Washington on 18 April, whil US negotiations with the UAE will continue from 25 April. A senior US trade official said that "high standard" intellectual property rights protections were part of US demands in both negotiations.
The move to sign bilateral agreements with the two countries is part of the US'' strategy, announced by President George W. Bush in 2003, to create a ''Middle East Free Trade Area'' (MEFTA) by 2013. The US has already signed bilateral FTAs with Israel, Jordan, Bahrain and Morocco, and hopes to sew up similar agreements with enough other countries in the region by then to integrate them into a broader MEFTA.
The US push for FTAs among members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC, a customs union comprising the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait), however, has raised the hackles of the Saudi government, which is anxious about the effect that the FTAs will have on the group''s common external tariff once they come into force, fearing that the FTA countries will become a gateway for US goods to flood the customs union.
Saudi officials have also expressed "alarm" over the decision of some GCC members'' decision to negotiate with the US bilaterally, rather than as a trade bloc. Saudi Arabia is not a WTO Member, and has no plans at the moment to negotiate an FTA with the US. |
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