Trade groups welcome U.S.-Morocco trade initiatives

   The National Foreign Trade Council and the U.S.-Middle East Free Trade (MEFTA) Coalition welcomed the announcement of three new U.S.-Morocco initiatives aimed at advancing bilateral trade and investment ties between the two countries.
   The initiatives, announced Tuesday by Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Miriam Sapiro at the U.S.-Morocco Business Development Conference, include a trade facilitation agreement, joint investment principles and joint principles for information and communication technology (ICT) services.
   “This announcement represents tangible action to increase Morocco’s competitiveness in the global economy and provide state-of-the art rules and processes,” said Chuck Dittrich, NFTC vice president for regional trade initiatives and director of the MEFTA Coalition, in a statement. “The initiatives will also help to forge deep and sustained mutually beneficial commercial partnerships between U.S. and Moroccan companies, workers and agricultural producers. 
   “We look forward to similar sustained efforts by the U.S. toward other Arab Spring countries such as Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, as well as for the region as a whole,” he said.
   The U.S.-Morocco Free Trade Agreement was implemented in 2006.