Mauritius discusses FTA with Turkey
PANA

Mauritius and Turkey will start their third round of discussions on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries Tuesda y , PANA reported from here Monday.

In a press release, made available to PANA Monday, the Foreign Affairs and Inter national Trade Ministry said the relevance of having an FTA between Mauritius an d Turkey was guided by the policy in response to the trade regime of the European

Union.

"On the one hand, Turkey is bound by the Customs Union Agreement with the EU and has therefore, has the obligation to align itself progressively to the preferen t ial customs regimes of the EU towards the ACP countries, including Mauritius.

"On the other, Mauritius has recently signed an Interim Economic Partnership Agr eement with the EU, which contains a 'Turkey clause' setting the context for pre f erential trade negotiations between Mauritius and Turkey," it said

An official of the ministry said in the previous rounds, discussions focussed on the framework that would guide the free trade agreement and the concessions to b e granted by both countries.

So far, it has been agreed that the EPA would be used as basis for negotiations.

"Upon conclusion of the negotiations, Turkey expects to grant duty free access t o Mauritius on all industrial products," he said.

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