CAIRO: Egypt's Minister Trade and Industry Mahmoud Issa said that the “QIZ” agreement is primarily a trade agreement and economic, and “not political,” pointing out that Egypt exported through this agreement goods worth $1.3 billion annually, and with an overwhelming percentage of exports to the United States, at the time where Israeli exports through this agreements reached only $130 million. He added, in remarks to reporters on the sidelines of his participation in the Summit of Heads of States and Governments of the African Union, currently meeting in Addis Ababa, “consequently, our assessment that this agreement is vital to the interests of Egypt in economic terms, and it should remain, because there is a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, which is more comprehensive than the QIZ agreement.” Egypt exports products with Israeli components duty-free to the US through the QIZ (Qualifying Industrial Zone). “If we canceled the QIZ agreement, from a mere economic prospect, we will be the losers,” Issa added in his statements to reporters in Addis Ababa, the state-run MENA news agency reported on Monday. He added that “Egypt benefits economically from this agreement and even if we abolished the QIZ agreement, Israel can still deal with our companies located in free zones in Egypt and we cannot prevent them, as Egypt and Israel are members of the World Trade Organization and we cannot prevent the import of goods, but can only be restricted.” He noted that the number of Israeli components in Egyptian products decreased from 10.5 to 8 percent, which means Egypt “benefited from the agreement.” He added that the government would respect any other political decision. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/b8SPN Tags: featured, Israel, QIZ Section: Business, Egypt, Latest News, Palestine
