Isaura Daniel*
isaura.daniel@anba.com.br
São Paulo – A meeting for negotiation of a free trade agreement between Morocco and the Mercosur is scheduled to take place today (07), in Rabat, Morocco. The meeting ends tomorrow (08) and should include the presence of representatives of the governments of both regions. According to information supplied by the Brazilian Foreign Office (Itamaraty), at the meeting the scope of the agreement should be discussed: whether it will be free trade or fixed tariff preference. In the case of free trade, the agreement would have to involve all kinds of products traded and, if it is a tariff preference agreement, it may be restricted just to a group of products.
The Itamaraty forecast is for the decision regarding the size of the meeting to come out after the meeting at the Ministry of Industry of Morocco. This is the first meeting between the Mercosur and Morocco to negotiate the agreement after the signing of a framework agreement, in November 2004. The document served to establish the disposition of both parties to begin a negotiation process. The desire of the government of Brazil is for negotiations to be completed and for the agreement to be signed up to the end of this year. In December the 2nd Summit of Arab and South American Countries should take place in Qatar.
The agenda of the meeting includes the Moroccan presentation of their main indices, reforms in the financial sector and macroeconomic situation, and also the presentations of Mercosur representatives about the South American bloc, its origins, operation and foreign tariffs, among other information. This should take place on the first day of the meeting. The idea, according to information supplied by the Itamaraty, is for both sides to get to know each other a little better. At the end of the meeting, the next steps of the process should be discussed.
The Mercosur participants should include employees of the Foreign Ministries of the countries in the group and on the Moroccan side, apart from representatives of the Foreign Ministry, there should also be members of the Ministry of Foreign Trade. Work developed by the Embassy of Brazil to Rabat shows that the Moroccans are interested in selling crustaceans and fish, phosphates and fertilizers, textile products and canned foods to the Mercosur.
A study by the International Economics Centre at the Foreign Ministry of Argentina shows that Brazil currently detains 96% of the sugar market in Morocco, 35% of the soy chaff market and 20% of the soy oil market. And the country could sell more. The list could include textile and ironworks products, machinery and equipment and products in the vehicle sector. In many of these sectors, Brazil cannot yet compete on the Moroccan market as the Arab country has an agreement favouring imports from the United States.
Early this year, Brazil and Morocco saw expressive growth in trade. Brazilian revenues with exports to the Arab country rose from US$ 42 million in the first two months of last year to US$ 82.9 million in the same period this year. The increase was 97.4% and the list of main products sold included wheat, sugar, soy oil, wood, tractors and coffee. On the other lane, the growth was even greater. Morocco exported to Brazil the equivalent to US$ 161.4 million in January and February this year, against US$ 26.7 million in the same period of 2007. The main products shipped were phosphates, naphtha for the petrochemical industry and sardines.
*Translated by Mark Ament
