Arab-Israeli Free Trade: ‘Europe’s a Perfect Example’

TDT | Manama                   

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Reported by Mahir Haneef

If a conflict-ridden Europe could come together and prosper through trade in a post-World War scenario, there need not be any doubt that Israel and its Arab neighbours can engage in free trade and bring stability and prosperity to the region, N7 Initiative president Oren Eisner said yesterday.

Talking at the press briefing as part of the N7 conference on trade, Mr. Eisner pointed out that only six countries of Western Europe had come together after the Second World War to talk about breaking down barriers to trade, and it later evolved into the European Union with 27 member countries.

"If you look at Europe today, it looks like a unified European Union. The history of Europe until after the Second World War was one of awful conflict with terrible disagreement, and very different cultures, which is very different from the Europe of today. I see no reason why the future Middle East, and the future of the region today, can’t be one of stability and prosperity, and one where shared cultures will far outweigh any past differences and past conflicts, much like Europe," Mr. Eisner said.

Further, he referred to the example of Southeast Asia and said the region had no shortage of conflicts that went back for centuries or millennia but were able to come together as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) not only to find a mechanism to come together and talk with each other but then to produce a free trade agreement among themselves.

Conducting trade among nations with cultural differences does not mean those countries have to give up their cultural identities, he added, citing the example of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

"The US, Canada, and Mexico are engaged in free trade, but no one has to give up their individual culture while doing so," he noted while stating that countries should be allowed to move at the pace that works for them, but at the same time, a mechanism for speedy movement should be present in the agreement.

In addition to Mr. Eisner, William F. Wechsler, senior director of Raifk Hariri Centre and Middle East Programmes at the Atlantic Council, and Ed Husain, a British author and academic and a senior fellow at the N7 Initiative, took part in the press briefing.