Brussels, 21/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - In Rabat on Monday, Morocco and the EU resumed their talks with a view to a deep and comprehensive free-trade agreement (DCFTA). There were abundant reports in the Moroccan press about the event, weighing up the advantages and disadvantages of the agreement which explicitly aims to anchor the Moroccan economy to Europe. The European ambassador in Rabat, Rupert Joy, drafted an article seeking to reassure the Moroccans.
The country's media write that the DCFTA should in the long term raise Moroccan GDP by nearly 1.6% and Moroccans' purchasing power by 1.6 to 1.9%. They cite expert evaluations predicting that there will be a remarkable impact on trade flows and that exports will, in the longer term, rise by 15%. Several sectors, however, are expected to suffer, such as the leather sector, and agriculture, which are leading sectors in Morocco's foreign trade, will have to face major competition. According to these assessments, at a time when the fruit and vegetable sector will be making major gains, cereals and other crops will suffer a decline in production estimated at 2.7% in the longer term. Strong competition is also expected in the services sector, ICT and relocation (offshoring).
Mohamed Abbou, the delegate minister for the ministry of industry, trade, investment and the digital economy, who is responsible for external trade, speaking on the sidelines of a meeting last Monday with the representatives of the Moroccan general business confederation, CGEM, said that these talks will constitute a new and vital stage in building the preferential Morocco-EU partnership.
Ambassador Joy takes the view that commitment in such negotiations is an “extremely positive sign” addressed to the European businesses and aimed at “further economic integration” by Morocco in the EU internal market. Joy said that considerable progress was made during the first two rounds of talks in April and June 2013. He pointed out that, as things stand, the implementation of existing agreements has allowed the suppression or the significant reduction of customs duties for industrial products as well as for agriculture and fisheries, which has given fresh impetus to trade. However, at this stage, the only comparative advantage for Moroccan products was the fact that they may be exported to the EU duty free. He went on to state in a column published in the weekly, L'Economiste, that closing the gap between public procurement procedures will result in more fluid participation by businesses on both sides. For Moroccan as well as European consumers, the approximation of legislation towards greater competition, better protection of intellectual property and a strengthening of consumer protection through better sanitary and phytosanitary measures will be stronger guarantees of security and of better quality and of a bigger choice of products and services. (FB/transl.jl)