The Union of Arab Chambers participated to the Extraordinary Committee Meeting for the Implementation and Follow-up of the Greater Arab Free Trade Area, at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States in Cairo on 14-15 August 2018, which discussed the following:

Item 1: Restrictions and Obstacles facing Arab States’ Members in trade exchanges within the Greater Arab Free Trade Area.
Item 2: Establish a Mechanism for committing Arab countries to the Economic & Social Council Resolutions related to the completion of the Greater Arab Free Trade Area.
Item 3: Activate the Principle of Transparency of the Greater Arab Free Trade Area.

The meeting was opened by Dr. Kamal Hassan Ali, Assistant Secretary General for Economic Affairs, and presided by Mr. Mohammed Saleh Shalwah, representative of the UAE. Many representatives from Arab countries and a number of Specialized Arab Organizations and Unions attended the meeting. The main points of the meeting fall as below:

Item 1 - Restrictions and Obstacles:
The Committee recommended the concerned entities to adhere to the points of focus to solve the problems and obstacles facing the implementation of the provisions of the Greater Arab Free Trade Area. The Committee supported the proposal of the General Secretariat of the League on the importance of developing the region to cover the topics of sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical restrictions, trade facilitation and intellectual property. It also stressed the point on the issue of standardization and invited the directors of the standards Bodies in the Arab Countries and the Arab Industrial Development and Mining Organization to meet and take the necessary measures. The representative of the Union of Arab Chambers re-emphasized the importance of this meeting, as a way to overcome the problems faced by the private sector and raised the issue of the existence of structural constraints that must be overcome as well. In addition, she also referred to the Agadir Agreement within which a Customs duty between the members of the Conventional States was established, and which had greatly facilitated trade procedures, but which pre-authorization was no longer applied among the members of the Conventional States. She also noted the importance of the member countries of the Greater Arab Free Trade Area to take similar actions towards achieving customs interconnection among each other and verify customs sources. UAC representative also called for the application of mutual recognition of laboratories, since the lack of it is one of the most important obstacles to inter-Arab trade.

Item 2 - Obligation Mechanism for the Region:
The Committee reached an operational mechanism for the application of reciprocity between States that did not comply with the provisions of the region.

Item 3 - Activating the principle of transparency:
The Committee has prepared a format for transparency requirements within the framework of the Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA), which focuses on informing the States of the Arab League about any electronic -link/links with all relevant laws, legislation, regulations and measures related to trade.
It also recommended that the General Secretariat of the League submit these electronic links to the Union of Arab Chambers in order to provide all information related to the relevant laws, legislation, regulations and measures applicable to trade to all Arab chambers and Arab commercial companies concerned with the Greater Arab Free Trade Area.

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Date published : 17 August 2018