ISDS Case Map
Egypt
"The time is not right." US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez's terse statement summed up his answers to repeated questions as to why negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) between Egypt and the US appear to have been abandoned.
An Egyptian official yesterday said that the timing of signing a free trade agreement (FTA) "wasn't appropriate from the Egyptian and US points of view".
Rachid Mohamed Rachid, Egypt's trade and industry minister, criticised Washington yesterday for mixing business with politics in its decision to freeze negotiations on a free trade agreement.
The United States will not seek a free trade agreement with Egypt this year because the "timing" is not right, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.
The time is not right for the United States and Egypt to begin negotiations on a free- trade agreement, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an interview on Friday with Arab media.
Disarray on the political side of the house casts the side of free-trade talks with the United States into question.
According to US Trade Representative for Europe and the Middle East Shaun Donnelly, the only Arab country under consideration for beginning FTA talks before the summer of 2007 is Egypt.
This week the issue of a potential US- Egyptian free trade agreement (FTA) emerged back in the spotlight. Reports coming from Washington suggest that the Bush administration has once again put on hold Egypt's long aspired to dreams of a bilateral FTA.
The United States signed a free-trade agreement on Thursday with Oman, a moderate Gulf state and ally in the US war on terrorism, while keeping trade talks with Egypt on hold amid concerns over its commitment to democracy.
Egypt risks missing its chance to clinch a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States if talks do not kick off in the coming weeks, an official with the US Congress said.
