Asked by: James Duddridge (Conservative - Rochford and Southend East)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if she will make an assessment of any potential disruption to the UK Morocco Association Agreement and the risk to securing access to affordable fruits and vegetable sold in the UK market.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The UK Morocco Association Agreement has been in operation since 1 January 2021 and we are now working effectively with Morocco to assess how we can maximise trade under the agreement. At the trade sub-committee earlier this year, we discussed a range of priority sectors, including fruits and vegetables which constitute around 35% of all goods imported from Morocco to the UK.
There is an ongoing Judicial Review pertaining to the application of the Association Agreement to the Western Sahara. We are unable to comment as this is a matter of sub-judice whilst the matter is in UK courts.