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  • Aug 4th, 2004
  • Comments Off on World trade deal to benefit Egypt: minister
Egypt will benefit from last week's world trade agreement and could become a net food exporter when the European Union and the United States cut farm subsidies, one of the Egyptian negotiators said on Tuesday.

"Its effect on us in my view is positive," Foreign Trade and Industry Minister Rashid Mohamed Rashid told a news conference.

Egypt has long campaigned for an end to US and European food subsidies, which restrict access to those markets for Egyptian agricultural products, which can have a comparative advantage over food produced further north.

Under the trade deal agreed in Geneva on Friday, the United States and Europe would eventually have to cut the subsidies.

Rashid said the Geneva agreement posed no new requirements on Egypt, beyond those it has already accepted in separate deals with the European Union and other trading groups.

An association agreement with the European Union, which came into effect in June, increases quotas for Egyptian food exports to Europe while opening the Egyptian market to Europe.

Rashid said: "We didn't give any concessions on what already existed. On the contrary, this agreement might greatly improve the agreement between us and Europe and our ability to export agricultural products to Europe."

Copyright Reuters, 2004


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