Brussels, 07/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - In Brussels on Monday 7 April, the EU and Morocco resumed their negotiations for a deep and comprehensive free-trade agreement (DCFTA).
These negotiations were officially launched in Rabat on 1 March 2013 and cover the trade in services, public procurement, movements of capital, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, industrial and intellectual property rights, trade facilitation and sustainable development.
The Moroccan private sector seems to have got its way and will be more involved from this phase of discussions, which will run until 11 April. The measure was conceded by the Moroccan government in order to mollify concerns expressed by various corporations due to the lack of transparency in the negotiations.
The European delegation to Rabat has stepped up contacts. Before the talks reopened, it reminded the media that, since the third round (which took place in Rabat in January of this year), both sides have “maintained constant contact at technical level in order to move forward in the various areas of the negotiations”. Morocco and the EU have kept the private sector and civil society of Morocco updated on the negotiations as they unfold. The DCFTA comes as part of the new generation of free-trade agreements which the EU is planning to conclude with four countries of the southern Mediterranean: Morocco, Jordan, Tunisia and Egypt. (FB)