Brussels, 07/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - The EU wants negotiations on a trade agreement with Morocco (DCFTA). EU Ambassador to Morocco Rupert Joy made the request in an interview published by the daily Le Matin on Friday 4 December.
“So far”, he said, “we've had four rounds of talks, the last being in April 2014. The Moroccan government asked for a temporary halt to give it time to carry out its impact assessment study. This has taken longer than expected. We hope to be able to continue negotiations in 2016. We are still awaiting the decision of the Moroccan government, however”.
He was keen to allay the fears of the economic community and associations over the DCFTA project, which is not “free trade” but will “more fully integrate the country in European markets and reduce non-tariff barriers, such as labelling and sanitary and phytosanitary standards, which often prevent business from developing”. Free trade already exists between Morocco and the EU, the ambassador pointed out. The DCFTA under negotiation, which is “similar to what the EU is negotiating with the United States and Japan”, will provide consolidation: “All that we want is to arrive at a win-win agreement” which could “serve as a template for other countries in the region”.
He also announced the forthcoming signing of a partnership with the General Confederation of Moroccan Companies creating an “Entrepreneur Academy” and a major support programme for growth and competitiveness for SMEs, to be rolled out from 2016.
Joy added that it is “inevitable that the realities of European neighbourhood will have a broad effect on our partnership”. The EU will “broadly place greater emphasis on security issues and on immigration in our cooperation but this will not be done at the cost of our overall partnership”. (Original version in French by Fathi B'Chir)