Brussels, 01/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - MEPs on the international trade committee unanimously recommended on Wednesday 31 August that the European Parliament (EP) should approve a pending agreement between the EU and the Palestinian Authority of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The deal sets out further trade liberalisation for agricultural and fisheries products.
The agreement would allow Palestinian agricultural products, processed agricultural products, as well as fish and other fisheries products duty-free access to the European market. MEPs hope that the move will support the development of the Palestinian economy by increasing exports into the EU.
“The future of the region depends on the improvement of the economic development. Trade can serve also as a development mechanism that contributes to the reduction of poverty and the establishment of political stability”, said EP rapporteur Maria Eleni Koppa (S&D, Greece). She stated, too, that the deal complied with rules of origin and that the Palestinian economy must be the main beneficiary of the trade liberalisation.
In the unlikely event of Palestinian imports of agricultural products and fisheries products increasing to a point where they distort the internal market, the EU can adopt safeguard measures.
The draft legislative resolution is due to be voted on in plenary during the September session in Strasbourg. The import conditions are valid for a period of 10 years, which can be extended if the Palestinian economy needs a further transition period.
The EP says in a press release that the Palestinian Authority is the EU's smallest trading partner in the Euro-Mediterranean region and one of the smallest worldwide. Total trade amounted to €56.6 million in 2009, €50.5 million of which were EU exports. Union imports from the Palestinian Authority totalled only €6.1 million in 2009, with agricultural products accounting for 70.1% of this total. (O.L./transl.rt)