Mariann Boel: asymmetry in trade liberalization not a permanent EU policy
CAIRO: European Union (EU) Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Mariann Boel urged Egypt and other Mediterranean Saturday to take more initiative to improve the quality of their export-oriented products in order to meet EU sanitary and phyto-sanitary (SPS) standards.
Speaking at the sixth meeting of the Ministers of Agriculture, including members of the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies, held in Cairo, Boel said the EU is willing to continue implementing reforms at faster rates than its counterparts in developing markets, but warned the imbalance will cannot continue permanently.
Boel s first visit to Egypt featured meetings with the Ministers of Agriculture and Foreign Trade and Industry, Amin Abaza and Rachid Mohamed Rachid, as well as their counterparts from other Mediterranean Basin countries. In her meetings, Boel used the agreement reached with Jordan as a success model for agriculture trade liberalization.
The EU s agreement with Jordan has strengthened my optimism, Boel said. Not only did we come to an agreement quickly, it was also based on a new approach. We took full liberalization as a principle, and then established a limited number of exceptions for sensitive products.
In Egypt s case, Boel told The Daily Star Egypt, EU is willing to lower quota and duty restrictions on Egyptian vegetables, but Egypt must consider the same for EU dairy products even if Egypt s cuts are made at a slower rate. Meanwhile, both sides can negotiate a small number of products for temporary exemption.
Still, one of the most pressing issues when it comes to allowing Egyptian fruits and vegetables into EU markets is sanitation, or SPS standards. In Jan. 2007, EU will make available 558 million euros (LE 4.2 billion) until 2010 to improve the quality of Egyptian exports to EU. Boel said she hopes the government chooses to allocate an appropriate portion of the funds to upgrade agriculture production processes.
There will be no compromise on SPS standards, Boel said. We will not step back on the quality issue.
Boel added there have been misunderstandings with officials from several countries, and wanted to clarify SPS standards apply to all EU agricultural imports including those from preferential and non-preferential trade partners.
Egyptian agricultural exports soared 70 percent in 2005, from 248 million euros (LE 1.9 billion) in 2003 to 404 million euros (LE 3.1 billion) after the beginning of implementation of the EU-Egypt Association Agreement in 2004. The agreement paves the way to an Action Plan, a bilateral road map to a free trade zone between EU and Mediterranean Basin countries by 2010. EU figures note the improvement in export figures came despite the fact Egypt filled 0 percent of its quotas for plums, pears, cabbage, chocolate, pasta and processed potatoes.
EU agriculture exports to Egypt also witnessed an increase from 523 million euros (LE 4 billion) in 2003 to 600 million euros (LE 4.5 billion) in 2005.
Although no date has been set for further negotiations regarding Egypt s Action Plan or EU-Mediterranean agriculture trade liberalization, Boel says she expects one to be set in the near future, probably for the early part of 2007. Although she declined to discuss specifics, Boel said her meetings in Cairo have revealed genuine political will on both sides to move ahead toward signing a deal similar with that of Jordan s.
Commenting on the differences between the Jordan agreement and a potential on with other Mediterranean Basin countries, a Boel aide said Jordan is a significantly smaller market and producer and therefore, represented a lesser threat to the EU. That is not the case with North African agricultural producers Egypt and Morocco, where EU farmers might be put at risk because of lower priced imports.
In 2005, the EU accounted for nearly 40 percent of Egypt s trade with 11.5 billion euros in total trade between the two sides. Liquefied natural gas represented more than 40 percent of Egyptian exports, followed by textiles and ready-made garments with 15 percent and agricultural products with about 10 percent. EU Foreign direct investment in Egypt amounted to 1 billion euros.
