ANKARA - State Minister Kursad Tuzmen and Moroccan Minister of External Commerce Mustapha Mechahouri will sign a free trade agreement in Ankara on January 27.
Speaking to the A.A correspondent, Tuzmen said that it would be the first ever free trade agreement of Turkey with an African and Arab country, adding, ''with the agreement we will have the doors of Africa opened to Turkish exporters.''
Mechahouri will be in Ankara on January 26. During his stay in Ankara, Turkey-Morocco Joint Economic Commission and Turkish-Moroccan Business Council will convene.
After completion of procedures about the agreement's taking effect in both countries, Turkey will reduce the custom duties on all industrial products imported from Morocco to zero. And the Moroccan side will lift custom duties on industrial products it exports from Turkey. Customs duties on remaining products will be reduced to zero in nine years.
Stressing that the agreement would be a very important starting point for Turkey's reaching other African countries via Morocco, Tuzmen said, ''the agreement which will be signed with Morocco at the end of discussions that took five years will be beneficial to Turkish exporters in terms of their market in Africa and competition with European Union exporters under equal conditions. I believe that Morocco would be followed by other African countries. We want to finish agreements with other African countries with which the EU has already signed free trade agreement. As Turkey. we are ready to sign these agreements and meetings are under way with this objective.''
(MS-AY) 20.01.2004