‘ME-US Free Trade Deadline Achievable’

MANAMA, 28 February 2008 — Following the first free-trade agreement with Bahrain, the US Trade Representative is working with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other countries to seek the similar trade treaties, a senior US official, who was in Bahrain, said.

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Kent Patton said that he was not sure about the details of such talks between the GCC and USTR but it was a routine to continue for seeking bilateral treaties with friends and allies.

“The 2014 deadline for the US to have the Middle East Free Trade Agreement (Mefta) is still an achievable target,” he said, adding that a 2014 deadline was still a realistic target but a lot of homework was required from the countries to be covered by this regional bloc.

Patton, who was in Bahrain as part of the President Bush’s Middle East follow-up visit, said that he held talks on economic, education and democratic reforms with the leadership and was encouraged with the outcome of the meetings.

Bahrain, he said, is a model state as being a partner with the US in sealing the FTA in a record time means both nations share common values on many fronts. “The FTA will bring a prosperity and development in Bahrain and will also have numerous benefits for the US businesses. The bilateral ties in trade, investment and commercial sectors have entered into a new era of progress and development. President Bush’s visit offered a rare opportunity to explore further avenues of co-operation due to the free trade agreement (FTA) between the two sides,” he said.

Bahrain being one of the closest allies of the US in the region it has also become the only GCC country to have an operative FTA with the US. The implementation of the US-Bahrain FTA has impacted the two-way trade and investments with total trade volume rising to $1.2 billion last year.

According to experts, the visit will have a profound impact on the two-way trade, economic and investments trends in 2008 and beyond. The visit is expected to push for further liberalization of bilateral commercial exchange, attraction of investments, stronger IT cooperation and further protection of intellectual property rights as well as reinforcement of labor cooperation for support of sustainable development.

The history of a bilateral cooperation and strong ties dated back to 1929 when Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) was established by a US firm, followed by the discovery of oil in Bahrain in 1932, also the first state in the Gulf to drill an oil well.

Later, the two countries intensified the exchange of their high-level official and trade delegations’ visits and signed cooperation agreements on trade, investment, training, air and maritime transport, he said. Most important of these agreements were an agreement on the encouragement and protection of investment on April 5, 2001 and a framework accord to develop economic, investment and trade relations on June 18, 2002.

This agreement resulted in the establishment of the US-Bahrain trade and investment board and was followed later by rounds of negotiations from January to May 2006 which led to the official conclusion of the FTA on Sept. 14, 2004 and its implementation on Aug. 1, 2006 whereby Bahrain had become the first in the Gulf, third in the Arab region and 14th in the world to conclude an FTA with the US.

Kent Patton is responsible for promoting democratic reform, including the President’s freedom agenda, within the countries of the Middle East and North Africa. In addition, his duties include managing the Middle East Partnership Initiative [NEA/PI] and coordinating the G-8’s BMENA initiative.