The European Union’s drive to complete trade deals across the world has continued with news that the European Commission has opened trade negotiations with Tunisia.
Announcing the launch of the talks, the European Commissioner responsible for trade, Cecilia Malmström, said that the EU wants to mark its support to the political and economic reforms in Tunisia by creating an ambitious partnership on trade and investment matters.
Negotiations will aim to reach agreement on what the Commission calls a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) between the EU and Tunisia.
The talks, which started on 19 October in Tunis, will build on an existing free trade area under the Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreement. Signed in 1995, the Association Agreement focuses mainly on trade in goods. Tunisia was the first Mediterranean country to sign such a deal with the EU.
The new DCFTA will broaden the scope of relations between the two parties to include provisions on a full range of regulatory areas of mutual interest. They include trade facilitation, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, investment protection, public procurement and competition policy.
Liberalisation of trade in services and establishment and of trade in agriculture will also be covered.
EU exports to Tunisia are dominated by machinery and transport equipment (34.9%), fuels and mining products (14.4%), textiles and clothing (12.4%) and chemicals (7.7%).
Machinery and transport equipment (38.1%) are the EU’s main imports from Tunisia, followed by textiles and clothing (24.9%) and fuels and mining products (14%).
In 2012, 62.9% of Tunisia’s trade was with the EU, and in 2014 total trade between the two was worth some €20 billion.
