Final Communiqui of the ABC Annual Conference Marrakech, Morocco
November 25-26, 2004
The General Assembly of the Arab Business Council meeting in Marrakech on November 25-26, 2004, commits to:
- Establish National Competitiveness Councils progressively in each Arab country, engaging the private, public and academic sectors, to assess on an annual basis, the current state of competitiveness and prepare recommendations on means to improve it. These councils should ensure that economic and socio-economic data and information is available for all Arab countries at international (OECD) levels
- Work with National Competitiveness Councils and other regional business institutions to establish a regional Task Force on Investment (TFI), with a Board of Trustees comprising business representatives from the region, the G-8, China and India, to facilitate investment awareness and investment-friendly environments, enhance investment flows and encourage capital market integration.
- In the context of the National Competitiveness Councils, the Task Force on Investment, and the Arab Business Council itself, engage with national governments to :
- remove as many items as possible from the negative lists established under the Free Trade Agreements, noting the decision announced by the Egyptian government at the ABC Conference to eliminate the negative list in its agreement with Jordan on all items except textiles
- establish an effective recourse and dispute resolution mechanism to address conflicts arising from regional Free Trade Agreements
- move rapidly towards adoption of zero-tariffs for industrial inputs
- implement a customs union between the largest possible number of Arab states
- encourage accelerated compliance with the provisions of the EU/US trade agreements and apply these on a MFN basis
- press for better access to G-8 and other OECD markets, especially in the agricultural products field
- simplify tax codes and apply the lowest reasonable rate of taxation
- enhance ICT connectivity in the region, to strengthen business communication, government effectiveness, access to information and education quality
- work towards deeper, better regionally- and internationally-integrated, financial markets, including capital and bond markets
- improve the quality of corporate, political and economic governance and application of the rule of law, to improve business efficiency and encourage investment
- enable better delivery of business-relevant education and skills by partnering with tertiary institutions in delivering specific programmes and sponsoring Entrepreneurship Centres
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