Morocco Extends Deadline for Free Trade Agreement Talks with Turkey

While the deadline granted to Turkey by Morocco to review the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was ending on Thursday, January 30, 2020, Erdogan’s country requested an additional week’s delay.

In early January, the two parties had agreed to revise the FTA that binds them. In this sense, a 15-day deadline had been set for them to jointly reflect on the mechanisms to be defined, with a view to reviewing the FTA for the mutual interest of the two countries. Failing this, Morocco will withdraw from this agreement.

This decision had been made due to the trade imbalance between Morocco and Turkey. The government spokesman, Lahcen Abyaba, had stated that this agreement causes the kingdom to lose $2 billion a year.

In addition, Moroccan exports to Turkey are down 3.5% to only $690 million, while Turkish exports to Morocco reach $2.3 billion per year.