President George W. Bush signed yesterday the U.S.-Morocco Free Trade Agreement, another agreement that the United States hopes will advance trade liberalization and economic growth in the Middle East. Bush's signing implements the deal agreed to by Morocco and the United States in mid-June. The pact "will help create jobs and new opportunities for Americans by deepening our trade ties with an important friend in the Arab world," the White House said in a statement. The White House praised the North African country for its political and economic liberalization and noted that Morocco joins Jordan and Israel as U.S. free-trade partners in the Middle East. The agreement also advances President George W. Bush's goal of a U.S.-Middle East Free Trade Area (MEFTA) by 2013. Bush "envisions an ever-widening circle of free trade that will help integrate the Middle East region into the global trading system," the White House said. "The openness, prosperity, and hope that free trade will [create] will help make the region and America safer," the White House wrote.
