Cumulation of origin means that a product originating in a partner country can be processed for the purposes of a particular trade agreement or added to a product of a second partner country and can still be considered the “originating product” of that second partner country. Tunisia has signed a number of agreements to facilitate trade and guarantee investment and trade in goods. The Agadir Agreement, a framework agreement with Egypt, Jordan and Morocco signed in 2004, allows free trade between the signatory states. Tunisia has separate bilateral free trade agreements with Algeria and Libya, but trade with Algeria remains weak, while trade with Libya has fallen sharply since the Arab Spring. Algeria and Libya accounted for only 4% and 1% of Tunisia`s total trade respectively in 2018. Tunisia is also a member of the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), which includes Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. “We don`t think the conditions are right to negotiate an agreement such as the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area, the first rounds of which excluded civil society organizations opposed to the agreement,” said Abdejelil Bedoui, an economist at the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES). “The result of free competition between sectors of two economies that do not compete on an equal footing would be catastrophic for Tunisia. In the services sector, for example, European workers could easily travel to Tunisia, while for Tunisians, the process of obtaining a visa is very complicated. How can you expect a Tunisian company to win a public tender in Europe? Bedoui asks. Nabil Arfaoui, director of cooperation with Europe at the Ministry of Commerce, said negotiations with Turkey were open to a change or even termination of the agreement. The border ends just before an equally distant line between Malta and the Italian Peagian Islands and the westernmost point of the border line forms a three maritime points with Algeria.
[4] On 23 January 1975, the Länder mutually added additional protocols to the Treaty, containing a map of the border and 32 individual coordinate points defining them. It entered into force on 6 December 1978 after being ratified by both countries. EU representatives in Tunisia paint a completely different picture. According to them, the agreement represents a generous gesture that would contribute to the development of the Tunisian economy. “The Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area will bring more investment to the country and make Tunisian companies more competitive. They have to adapt to EU regulatory and quality standards, which will open the door to new markets,” said a former senior official at the EU Delegation to Tunisia. The European Commission attributes the public`s rejection of the agreement to a lack of knowledge about it and colonial-era sensitivities. “It`s not true that we want to impose one or the other. In fact, we have told Tunisians that if certain sectors are not ready for competition, they can exclude them from the agreement. We offer them an à la carte menu,” the manager added in a meeting with several correspondents. Opponents of the DCFTA, however, question this analysis. “The report is biased because the consultants are regular clients of the Commission and tell it what it wants to hear,” Bedoui notes.
In a public statement, the FTDES condemned the methodology used to evaluate the agreement, which is evaluated from a “neoliberal perspective,” does not make a comprehensive social impact assessment, and is superficial in its study of each country. “The problem is that the Tunisian state has not yet carried out a full assessment of the impact of the free trade agreement, so it is difficult to negotiate properly,” Harbawy said. But some social actors have spent their own sums, such as the ALECA collective bloc [DCFTA], which claims that the 1995 agreement led to the loss of about 300,000 jobs and the closure of about 3,200 small and medium-sized enterprises. “We hope there will be concessions from both sides to reach an agreement,” she told Reuters. ($1 = 2.8114 Tunisian dinars) Since 1995, Tunisia has been linked to the European Union through a free trade agreement within the framework of the Barcelona Process, which aims to create a highly integrated Euro-Mediterranean region. Tunisia is not alone; In addition to Israel and the Palestinian Authority, five other countries in the region have signed similar agreements (Morocco, Lebanon, Algeria, Egypt and Jordan). At the end of 2015, the European Commission started negotiations with a view to taking a new step in its economic integration with Tunisia with a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA). Brussels hoped it would be the next in a long line of free trade agreements around the world. But to his surprise, there was strong opposition to the deal in Tunisia.
The European Union accounts for about 70% of Tunisia`s trade, and Tunisia`s most important free trade agreement is the Industrial Products Association Agreement, which was officially ratified in 1996. The free trade area with the EU was effectively implemented in 2008 after a gradual reduction of tariffs to zero over a period of 12 years. At the end of 2011, the EU announced that it would seek a “Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement” with Tunisia. As of June 2020, negotiations are still ongoing. The pan-European-Mediterranean cumulation system of origin was created in 2005. It brings together the EU, Tunisia and other partners in Europe and the Mediterranean to support regional integration by creating a common system of rules of origin. Rules of origin are the technical criteria that determine whether a particular product qualifies for duty-free or other preferential access under a particular trade agreement. Describes the bilateral and multilateral trade agreements in which this country participates, including with the United States. Contains websites and other resources in which the United States. .
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