Morocco-USA: Six years later, the FTA struggles to reach cruising speed.
7 December 2012
Read by 1841 persons
Morocco and the United States have been linked since 2006 by a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), but it is still struggling to reach cruising speed. To boost trade between the two countries, which has progressed but very slowly, Washington hosted a Moroccan-American business development conference this Tuesday. The goal, as explained by the US Deputy Trade Representative, Miriam Sapiro, is to explore ways to jointly benefit from the opportunities offered by the FTA to promote trade on both sides and to "create innovative business sectors and a dynamic workforce".
The Kingdom's consistent economic leadership, coupled with its strategic geographical location between Africa, the Middle East and Europe, she noted, offers "enormous potential" for increased trade and investment between the two countries.
New initiatives, she assured, will soon be launched to further promote bilateral trade, investment and job creation in both countries, in several sectors, including aeronautics, agriculture, automotive and renewable energy.
Certainly, the Free Trade Agreement has allowed Morocco and the USA to eliminate customs duties on more than 95% of traded goods and to increase their trade at a certain pace, but its results remain below the aspirations of Moroccan and American operators given the real potential of both countries.
As a reminder, trade between the two countries amounted to $3.79 billion in 2011. Some 120 American companies currently operate in Morocco, where they have invested nearly $2.2 billion and created more than 100,000 direct and indirect jobs.
To accelerate the pace of trade and investment under the FTA, the United States is committed to releasing $1.5 million in assistance to stimulate American private investment in the Moroccan market, promote local economic development and strengthen the legal and regulatory framework, according to a source close to the State Department.
The conference, following the first round of the Morocco-US Strategic Dialogue held last September, also aims to rebalance bilateral trade, which is currently in surplus in favor of the American side.
It is a matter of finding ways to boost Moroccan exports to the US market and to attract American investors to the major strategic projects and sectoral projects launched by Morocco.
The meeting was also to finalize a roadmap to strengthen the economic component of the Morocco-USA strategic dialogue.
Labass.net
Published December 5, 2012.
Posted online December 7, 2012.
The Kingdom's consistent economic leadership, coupled with its strategic geographical location between Africa, the Middle East and Europe, she noted, offers "enormous potential" for increased trade and investment between the two countries.
New initiatives, she assured, will soon be launched to further promote bilateral trade, investment and job creation in both countries, in several sectors, including aeronautics, agriculture, automotive and renewable energy.
Certainly, the Free Trade Agreement has allowed Morocco and the USA to eliminate customs duties on more than 95% of traded goods and to increase their trade at a certain pace, but its results remain below the aspirations of Moroccan and American operators given the real potential of both countries.
As a reminder, trade between the two countries amounted to $3.79 billion in 2011. Some 120 American companies currently operate in Morocco, where they have invested nearly $2.2 billion and created more than 100,000 direct and indirect jobs.
To accelerate the pace of trade and investment under the FTA, the United States is committed to releasing $1.5 million in assistance to stimulate American private investment in the Moroccan market, promote local economic development and strengthen the legal and regulatory framework, according to a source close to the State Department.
The conference, following the first round of the Morocco-US Strategic Dialogue held last September, also aims to rebalance bilateral trade, which is currently in surplus in favor of the American side.
It is a matter of finding ways to boost Moroccan exports to the US market and to attract American investors to the major strategic projects and sectoral projects launched by Morocco.
The meeting was also to finalize a roadmap to strengthen the economic component of the Morocco-USA strategic dialogue.
Labass.net
Published December 5, 2012.
Posted online December 7, 2012.
