A proposed preferential trade agreement with Israel is expected to be on the agenda when the Council of Ministers of the European Economic Community convenes in Luxembourg on Oct. 17-18. The Common Market’s Executive Commission has presented a draft mandate to the ministers on negotiating a five-year preferential trade agreement with Israel. The proposal calls for the six member states to lower tariff barriers by 45 percent on nearly all Israeli goods and by 40 percent on certain agricultural products, among them citrus fruits, mangoes, and avocado pears.
A non-preferential agreement between Israel and the Market expired in 1967, but the EEC has been unilaterally carrying out its provisions ever since. Last July, the Market’s foreign ministers failed to reach agreement on a preferential trade pact with Israel after France argued that it was politically impossible to do so without similar arrangements with Israel’s Arab neighbors.
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