Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA / PAFTA)
Under the Agreement on Facilitating and Developing Inter-Arab Trade, members phased out customs duties on each other's goods from 1998 and reached full liberalisation in 2005. All 15 Arab countries on MENA Trade are members, so qualifying Arab-origin goods normally enter duty-free.
What you get
- 0% customs duty
Arab-origin goods traded between members are fully exempt from customs duties and charges with equivalent effect, for both industrial and agricultural products.
Source ↗ - No non-tariff barriers, with set exceptions
Members may not apply non-tariff barriers to each other's goods, except for religious, health, security and environmental reasons. A few farm products can also be excluded temporarily during local harvest seasons (the agricultural calendar).
Source ↗
Exceptions
- Algeria: negative list removed in 2022
Algeria joined GAFTA in 2009 and kept a negative list of goods excluded from the duty exemption from 2010. It officially removed this list at the start of 2022.
Source ↗ - Syria: suspended 2011–2023
Syria's Arab League membership was suspended in 2011 and restored in May 2023, and trade with Syria was badly disrupted in between. Check Syria's current tariffs, payment channels and any sanctions before relying on GAFTA treatment.
Source ↗ - Algeria–Morocco land border closed
The Algeria–Morocco land border has been closed since 1994 and Algeria cut diplomatic relations in 2021, so goods cannot move overland between them even though both are GAFTA members.
Source ↗