Council of Arab Economic Unity

Objectives

According to The Economic Unity Agreement approved on June 3, 1957, the Council of Arab Economic Unity desires to "Organize and consolidate economic relations among the States of the Arab League on bases that are consistent with the natural and historical links among them; and to provide the best conditions for flourishing their economies, developing their resources and ensuring the prosperity of their countries." The bases of economic relations between states in the Council of Arab Economic Unity are outlined in Chapter 1, Articles 1 and 2 of The Economic Unity Agreement:

Article 1

Article 1 delineates each member state's rights to:

1. Personal and capital mobility
2. Free exchange of goods and products
3. Exercise of residence and economic endeavors (work, employment, etc.)
4. Transit and use of ports and airports
5. Possession and inheritance

Article 2

Article 2 behooves the signatories of The Economic Unity Agreement to work towards the objectives specified in Article 1 by:

1. Merging into a unified customs area
2. Unifying their import and export policies
3. Unifying their regulations with regard to transit
4. Jointly negotiating agreements with other states
5. Unifying and coordinating legislation to achieve equal conditions of agriculture, industry and trade among member states
6. Coordinating legislation with regard to labor and social security
7. (a) Coordinating "government and municipal taxes and duties and all taxes pertaining to agriculture, industry, trade, real estate, and capital investments" to achieve equivalent business climates among member states; (b) Avoiding double-taxing nationals of member states
8. Coordinating monetary and fiscal policies
9. Unifying "statistical methods of classification and tabulations"
10. Adopting any other measures consistent with the stated objectives of Articles 1 and 2

Agadir Agreement

"The Agadir Agreement" for the establishment of a free trade zone between the Arab Mediterranean Nations was signed in Rabat, Morocco on 25 February 2004. The agreement aimed at establishing free trade between Jordan, Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco which was seen as a first potential step in the formation of the Euro-Mediterranean free trade area as envisaged in the Barcelona Process. All members of the Agadir Agreement have since joined the "Greater Arab Free Trade Area", effectively superseding the agreement.

Greater Arab Free Trade Area

The "Greater Arab Free Trade Area" (GAFTA) is a pan-Arab free trade zone that came into existence in 1997. It was founded by 14 countries: Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates. The formation of GAFTA followed the adoption of the "Agreement to Facilitate and Develop Trade Among Arab Countries" (1981) by the Arab League's Economic and Social Council (ESC) and the approval by seventeen Arab League member-states at a summit in Amman, Jordan of the "Greater Arab Free Trade Area Agreement" (1997). In 2009, Algeria joined GAFTA as the eighteenth member-state. GAFTA is supervised and run by the ESC.

The members participate in 96% of the total internal Arab trade, and 95% with the rest of the world by applying the following conditions:

1. Instruct the inter-customs fees:
2. Applying the locality of the Arab products:
3. Private sectors:
4. Communication:
5. Customs Duties: