Trade and Commerce
Remarks by Ambassador William T. Monroe, Conference on Free Trade in the Middle East
February 27, 2006Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:
It is my great pleasure to welcome you all here today for this Conference on Free Trade in the Middle East. It is great to see so many U.S. companies in the audience, an indication of the strong U.S. business interest in expanding and developing trade and investment opportunities in the region. And I am pleased to see so many of our Bahrain friends here, which surely reflects Bahraini interest in strengthening commercial relations with the United States, and seeing how Bahrainis can benefit from the Free Trade Agreement.
I am a career U.S. diplomat who has spent much of my career -- more than 30 years, including three years at the Department of Commerce -- working to promote U.S. commercial interests overseas. I was thus delighted, when appointed as U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Bahrain 18 months ago, to learn that the U.S. and Bahrain had just successfully completed negotiations on a free trade agreement. Since I have been here, we have signed the FTA, and seen it ratified by both countries. We hope and expect that the FTA will take effect in the coming months. And then we can focus on the real goal -- expanding trade and investment between our two countries.
Since I have been in Bahrain, I have been struck by two points in my discussions on the free trade agreement. First, expectations are high that the FTA will bring positive benefits to Bahrain. Second, questions are being raised about how Bahraini companies can take advantage of the benefits of an FTA.
On the first point regarding high expectations, while one must always be on guard against excessively high expectations, the record on free trade agreements has been good and supports the expectation that the U.S.-Bahrain free trade agreement will generate a solid increase in bilateral trade and investment. Some people here look to the Jordanian example, where exports to the United States jumped from $73 million in 2000 to more than $1.2 billion in 2005. That's an incredible record, but Jordan has some unique circumstances, and one should not assume that we will see results like that in Bahrain.
We do expect, however, that there will be solid, measurable benefits for Bahrain. The FTA will give Bahrain unfettered access to the world's largest import market. That will most certainly lead to an increase in exports to the U.S., which totaled $430 million in 2005. And the elimination of tariffs on goods from the United States will immediately make U.S. products more competitive in the Bahraini market. So we will certainly see trade increasing.
But perhaps even more importantly, the FTA has put Bahrain on the map in the U.S. as a place with trade and investment standards that meet the high requirements of a free trade agreement with the United States. Bahrain, if you will, has a golden "seal of approval" as a good place to do business. This will attract the interest of U.S. companies, who may want to consider Bahrain as a place in which to do business or from which to do business. Every U.S. company that opens an office here, or sets up a regional headquarters, or establishes a joint venture, or makes an investment will bring money and jobs to Bahrain.
Which brings us to the second point: how can Bahraini companies take advantage of the free trade agreement? The U.S. Government, of course, has great interest in seeing that the FTA is a success, an interest equally shared by the Government of Bahrain. This conference, organized jointly by our two countries, is an indication of our commitment to free trade and the free trade agreement. The presence of the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, as well as representatives from some 110 U.S. companies from around the region, is indicative of U.S. government and private sector support for and interest in free trade in Bahrain and the region. I view this event today as the start of a vigorous effort to promote the free trade agreement -- both here and in the United States.
I, as Ambassador in Bahrain, have already publicly promoted the FTA in the media both here and in the U.S., and I will continue to do so. Bahrain has an active Ambassador in Washington, Nasser Belooshi, who has been working tirelessly to promote business between out two countries. Bahrain's Economic Development Board has worked closely with private sector consultants to identify focus sectors under the FTA. Under the Middle East Partnership Initiative (or MEPI), we have funded experts and consultants to help Bahrain prepare for the FTA, providing training and technical advice in such areas as intellectual property, commercial law, customs, and textiles. So the commitment of our two governments is there.
But in the end, free trade agreements are about companies, not governments. The trade and business deals won't be handed on a platter to companies, they will have to be developed by companies interested in finding and developing market opportunities. And there are lots of tools out there to help companies do just that. Our Embassy Commercial Office stands ready to help any company -- American or Bahraini -- interested in U.S. trade and investment in the Bahraini market. The newly-established American Chamber of Commerce in Bahrain is playing an active role in promoting U.S.-Bahraini trade -- it organized a trade mission to Washington and New York last December and welcomes new members interested in or engaged in commercial activity with the U.S. Bahrain has established an FTA Implementation Committee aimed at maximizing benefits from the FTA for Bahrain. And as I mentioned, Bahrain's EDB is actively looking at sectors to promote and exploit under the FTA.
The United States strongly believes in the importance of free trade and lowering barriers to trade. Economic reform, which is an inevitable part of free trade, leads to more jobs and higher income levels. Since President Bush announced in 2003 the goal of establishing a Middle East Free Trade Area by the year 2013, the U.S. has signed FTAs with Morocco, Bahrain, and Oman, initiated FTA talks with the UAE, assisted in the accession of Saudi Arabia to the WTO, and signed Trade and Investment Framework Agreements (TIFAs) with six countries in the region. We here in Bahrain are pleased that Bahrain was the first country in the Gulf to conclude an FTA with the U.S., look forward to its full implementation in the coming months, and welcome the opportunity to promote trade and investment between our two countries.
Thank you.