A VISION THING

$1bn sweetener for trade plan (Emad Mekay, 6/23/03, Asia Times)

The United States will negotiate free trade agreements separately with Arab countries as a first step towards setting up a US-Middle East Free Trade Agreement (MEFTA) by 2013 that will include up to 20 of the region's nations.

"Our vision is to foster the revival of a prosperous region once again united by culture, commerce and goodwill among nations," said US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick in a speech on the last day of the high-profile World Economic Forum meeting in this resort town on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea on Monday.

Zoellick and US Secretary of State Colin Powell met government ministers from Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar, Egypt, Oman, Morocco, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)to discuss steps towards negotiating MEFTA, first announced by US President George W Bush on May 9. Powell told reporters that the effort would help create a more stable Middle East based on the strong links between trade and peace in the trouble region.

Damn those steel tariffs... Posted by Orrin Judd at June 24, 2003 9:03 AM