Qualifying Industrial Zone (QIZ) agreement should serve the interests of Cairo as well as Tel Aviv, said Hatem Saleh, Egyptian Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade; emphasizing that Egypt respects its treaties and trade agreements. He affirmed that he has called on the Israeli side to reduce the Israeli component from 10.5% to 8.5% like Jordan.
Saleh added that Israel is studying the request to reply soon, so we hope the response be positive and useful for Egypt.
The trade agreements serve the intra-region trade, COMESA- Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, is the most important one; in addition to the free trade with the Arab countries and free trade with Turkey. Negotiations are being done with the Turkish side and Europe to expand the volume of the trade exchange to include the crops and fish, Hatem Saleh said.
In December 14th 2004, Egypt signed a protocol named Qualifying Industrial Zone (QIZ) with Israel and United States. These arrangements allow the Egyptian products to enter the US markets without customs fees, but under the condition of the Israeli component in these products reach 11.7%.
On October 9th 2007, a new agreement had been signed between Egypt and Israel that provides for reducing the Israeli component to 10.5%. The aim of this protocol is to open the doors for the Egyptian exports to the US markets, which receive 40% of the global consumption volume without confining with the shares system.
According to QIZ signed with Egypt, the US government gives the priorities, from one side, to all the manufactured products in these zones in the customs or non-tariff contracts from the Egyptian side vie entering the US market, without customs fees or shares, but under the condition of the Israeli component in these products reach 11.7%.
