Partnership Agreement With The European Union Was Not Well Negotiated

A review of partnership agreements with the European Union and the Free Trade Area is necessary, but this has not been well negotiated, Director of the Algerian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Wahiba Bahloul, said on Monday, in an interview with the National Radio.

“It is time to review these agreements, as it was indicated in the economic program that was recently set by the new government, and it is not only related to the partnership agreement with the European Union but also the agreement with the Arab region for free exchange”, she added.

Concerning the partnership agreement with the European Union, the spokeswoman explained that “the outcome in terms of figures of this agreement indicated a tax loss of $ 2 billion, but there are also other losses, such as collateral damage that must be re-framed because the whole chapter that is related to investment has not been guaranteed”.

“This agreement was not well negotiated well. We should return to the circumstance in which the process was negotiated, and regarding the agreement with the Arab region for free exchange, we joined the path after its launch and we were asked to implement it immediately while we were not prepared for that”.

“Egyptian and Jordanian goods that entered the country at the expense of those produced locally obligated Algeria to specify a negative list to protect the local product”.

“Concerning the free trade zone of the African continent, Algeria was involved in this path from the start to the end, which allowed it to assess the qualifications and weaknesses of integration in this region”.