| US Congress will vote in February on a free trade agreement with Bahrain and stands ready to consider agreements with other countries in the Middle East, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee said. Bill Thomas, a California Republican, was part of a Congressional delegation that just returned from a trip to Egypt, Oman and Tunisia. He said they were impressed with the desire of officials to make the necessary economic reforms to qualify for free trade deals. The delegation stressed in all their meetings that the deals would have to meet appropriate standards in such areas as enforcing the rule of law. Thomas said he expects a vote on a just-completed agreement with Bahrain to occur in February. The US already has free trade agreements with Jordan and Morocco. The Bush administration has announced that it would begin negotiations next year on free trade deals with the UAE and Oman. |