By Youssef Sourgo
Morocco World News
Casablanca, June 6, 2013
The second round of negotiations for the conclusion of a full and comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (ALECA) between Morocco and the European Union will take place on June 24 in Brussels.
These announcement was made by Rupert Joy, ambassador of the European Union in Rabat, during a meeting on "Trade relations between the EU and Morocco," organized last Tuesday in Casablanca by EuroCham (Union of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Morocco).
"To achieve the goal of a deeper economic integration between the two parties, we began negotiations for a new agreement for a full and comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (ALECA)," stated Rupert Joy.
“The new developments in the negotiations over the ALECA agreement go beyond trade liberalization and the abolition of customs duties on goods, to reducing non-tariff barriers, liberalizing trade in services, providing investment protection and harmonizing regulations in several areas, including procurement, standardization, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, intellectual property rights or even state aid,” said Moya-Diaz, the head of the Commercial Section of the EU Delegation to Morocco.
Furthermore, Slim Kchouk, president of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Morocco, pinpointed that these negotiations over a more comprehensive free-trade agreement are a significant leap towards achieving a deeper economic integration between Morocco and the EU.
In the same context, the European Union will carry on a study on June 27 to assess the effects of such an agreement on the social, economic and environmental development of the kingdom.
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