Brussels, 23/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - Commissioner Peter Mandelson, on a visit to the Middle East (EUROPE 8950) announced on Friday that Israel and Jordan had decided to upgrade their bilateral trade agreement authorising the “cumulation of origin” for exports to the EU. This Israeli-Jordanian agreement (which is expected to be ratified very soon), will allow preferential trade agreements that already exist in the EU/Jordan and EU/Israel Association Agreements to be completed with the cumulation of origin, which will allow for the future PanEuroMediterranean cumulation of origin to be applied, as proposed by the Commission. This proposal will, however, still have to be adopted by the Council of Ministers. As soon as the Council decision has manufactured a finished product, produced in several stages by the two countries, and beginning as a raw material produced in one of the countries, it could then enter the European Union on a preferential basis. Textiles, shoes and furniture upholstery sectors will be especially covered by this agreement.
In Tel-Aviv and Ramallah, Peter Mandelson and the Israeli and Palestinian authorities discussed the benefits of working for an equivalent agreement with the Israeli and Palestinian authorities, which would allow for the cumulation of origin between them. The other Mediterranean countries in the Barcelona process should follow, explained Mandelson, who, nonetheless, underlined that this would initially mean that these countries concluded free trade agreements between them. The EU hopes that the PanEuroMediterranean cumulation would promote regional trade and pay a role of complementarity between the Mediterranean partners. According to Commission estimates, trade between the southern countries of the Mediterranean only counts for a small part of their overall trade but with the introduction of this mechanism in the whole of the Mediterranean region could increase trade by around 40%.