Egypt is part of several international trade agreements which aim at facilitating imports and exports for businesses. Some multilateral agreements pertaining to trade include the following:

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). It was signed in 1994. Egypt became a member in 1998. Accordingly, products are exempted from customs between member countries with a 45% local value-added at minimum. There are 19 active member countries; namely Burundi, Comoros, D.R. Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. There are 11 countries having 100% reduction of tariffs on imports from other member countries.

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). It is a multilateral agreement that came into force in 1948 to regulate international trade. It aims at “reducing substantially tariffs and trade barriers and the elimination of preferences, on a reciprocal and mutually advantageous basis”. It was signed by 23 countries in 1947 reaching 123 countries in 1994 at the Uruguay Round Agreement that established WTO in 1995.

Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA). It provides strategic frameworks and principles for dialogue on trade and investment issues between the United States and the other parties to the TIFA. Egypt and the United States signed the TIFA on 1 July, 1999 in Washington, DC. The agreement establishes a framework to expand trade while resolving outstanding disputes between both countries. It is a natural step towards negotiating a free trade agreement. The Egypt-U.S. TIFA enhances the bilateral economic relationship between the two countries and seeks to encourage and facilitate private sector contracts. The goal of the framework is to foster growth, create jobs, attract investment, improve technology, and lead to overall economic development. TIFA is a means to establishing effective protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, creating sustainable policies that support trade and environmental protection, and setting up a means for worker rights, protection, and enforcement under the legal framework.

Egypt-Turkey Free Trade Agreement (FTA). It was signed in 2005 and came into effect in 2007. The FTA includes trade of all goods providing unlimited market access for only few agricultural products and a limited market access with tariff rate quotas for selected products.

The Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA)/ Pan Arab Free Trade Area (PAFTA). A trading bloc created in 1997 by the Arab League and signed by 17 countries. The countries are Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Accordingly, a gradual removal of trade barriers and 10% reduction in customs fees each year are applied. The liberalisation process has been negotiated to speed up in 2001. Countries began to be exempted from most customs and duties in 2005. The percentage of value-added required to confer origin is 40% of the ex-factory cost. Local labour is counted as added-value and Egyptian assembly of US parts constitutes transformation to meet the origin requirements under GAFTA. Local component requirements under GAFTA rules of origin also allow for the use of inputs from all other members (diagonal accumulation of origin).

Egypt-EU partnership. Egypt and EU signed a treaty of “association agreement” in 2001 establishing a free trade area. Accordingly, Egyptian products to EU are exempt from tariffs immediately, while EU export tariffs are dismantled over a 12-year period. The partnership entered into force in 2004. An agricultural annex was completed and accordingly liberalising trade in over 90% of agricultural goods in 2010. Agricultural and processed agricultural products are treated according to certain quotas for specific goods with tariff privileges and certain market windows for exportation from Egypt. While the value-added criteria set in the EU can be as high as 60% and 75% for sensitive products such as textiles and apparel, EU companies can benefit in certain sectors such as processed food where Egypt faces lower to zero tariffs on agricultural exports. Local component requirements (a minimum of 60% from Egypt or the EU) for the rules of origin under Mediterranean countries also allow for the use of inputs from third countries (diagonal accumulation of origin) for the remaining 40% content.

African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). In March 2018, Egypt entered an agreement with the African Union to strengthen and boost the integration among African countries. The main objective behind the agreement is to eliminate tariffs, aiming to create a single continental market for goods and services. Establishing a common African market will help ensuring a sustainable development and an increase in growth rates among African counties. This step can be seen as the start of paving the road for the Africa’s vision 2063.

In addition to the above agreements, there are many bilateral and preferential trade agreements between Egypt and a number of Arab countries aiming at facilitating trade. This includes Jordan (December 1999), Lebanon (March 1999), Libya (January 1991), Morocco (April 1999), Syria (December 1991) and Tunisia (March 1999). In 1995, Egypt entered into a trade accord with China and signed an economic treaty with Russia. Also, in August 2017, Egypt has signed a free trade agreement with MERCOSUR. MERCOSUR is an economic and political union including Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay, and Venezuela, through which 63 % of Egypt’s exports will be eligible for import tax exemption.

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