Preferential Trade Agreements and Trade Liberalization Efforts in the OIC Member States
With Special Emphasis on the TPS-OIC
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removed within three years of entry into force. Tariff elimination for products in the second
list containing intermediate products is foreseen between the third and the ninth year upon
FTA entry into force. For products in the third list (finished goods) and fourth list (cars) tariffs
will be removed over the 15 years period.
Provisions on liberalisation of trade in agricultural products are limited with tariff rate quotas
and tariff reductions applicable to short lists of products only. Data presented in Table 20
below suggest that whereas in 2005 simple average of the Turkish effectively applied tariffs to
imports from the world and from Egypt were very similar (differences stemming from
different commodity composition of imports), in 2010 imports from Egypt benefited from a
preference margin of around 3 percentage points (on the basis of comparison of simple
averages of applied tariffs).
Table 20: Egypt-Turkey Simple Average MFN and Preferential Tariffs
Reporter Partner 2002 2005 2010
Egypt Turkey 29.56 15.65 11.24 (2009)
World (MFN) 19.92 19.58 16.82 (2009)
World (applied tariff) 19.91 19.44 15.00 (2009)
Turkey Egypt 6.96 (2003) 4.64 1.58
World (MFN) 9.98 (2003) 9.58 9.91
World (applied tariff) 4.36 (2003) 4.32 4.93
Note: It is unclear if Egypt preferential tariff data for imports from Turkey are reliable;
Source: WITS (TRAINS database - aggregated from 6-digit data)
The agreement foresees elimination of quantitative import restrictions. It does not explicitly
tackle non-tariff measures but foresees establishment of the joint committee to ensure proper
implementation of the agreement including review of the possibility of "further removal of the
obstacles to trade between the Parties". In the field of technical regulations, standards and
conformity assessment, parties commit to strengthening co-operation. The chapter of the
agreement on sanitary and phytosanitary measures re-iterates WTO commitments.
The importance of intra-FTA trade increased significantly following the entry into force of the
agreement in 2007. The dynamics of trade growth was broadly similar for both exports from
Turkey to Egypt and from Egypt to Turkey. There is also evidence of rising Turkish investment
in Egypt, especially in the textile sector28. Bilateral trade remains diversified in terms of its
commodity structure. The top 5 product groups imported by Turkey from Egypt (at HS chapter
disaggregation level) in 2013 were HS39 - plastics and articles thereof, HS28 inorganic
chemicals, precious metal compound, isotope, HS27 - mineral fuels, oil, distillation products,
28