Arab Customs Cooperation Agreement ‘step towards Arab Free Trade Zone’: Foreign Ministry

CAIRO – 14 December 2020: Diplomat Habib Medhat, representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs assured Monday that the Arab Customs Cooperation Agreement is “a step towards achieving and establishing the Greater Arab Free Trade Area,” during the meeting of the Plan and Budget Committee in the House of Representatives.

The Arab Customs Cooperation Agreement was approved by the Economic and Social Council of the League of Arab States in Cairo on September 3, 2015, and was signed on July 5 of the same year.

The Plan and Budget Committee in the House of Representatives held a meeting Monday to discuss the decision of the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt No. 557 of 2020 regarding approval of the Arab Customs Cooperation Agreement.

Eng. Yasser Omar Shaybah, deputy of the Plan and Budget Committee in the House of Representatives stressed that the Parliament’s approval on this agreement “is a step towards activation and entry into force,” pointing out that the agreement was established in 2015, and so far, has not entered into force due to the lack of ratification by a number of countries. The number of countries ratifying the agreement is only five after Egypt ratified it, while the regulations require at least seven countries to ratify the agreement to be effective.

According to the explanatory note, the agreement aims to strengthen cooperation between Arab customs administrations in order to “exchange information and investigations to avoid any crimes and violations of customs legislation in the member countries in the agreement, with the aim of simplifying customs procedures.”