Oman-US free trade pact faces final test

Washington: A bill sent by US President George W. Bush to Congress on Monday enacting a free trade agreement with Oman triggered a rebuke from the top Senate Democrat, who said it omitted a provision barring goods made with forced labour.

"This FTA [free trade agreement] enhances our bilateral relationship with a strategic friend and ally in the Middle East region," Bush said in a statement arguing it was strongly in the United States' national interest to approve the pact.

"Oman is leading the pursuit of social and economic reforms in the region ... and providing better protection for women and workers," Bush said. The pact follows other US agreements with Bahrain and Jordan, bring the US closer to its goal of creating a Middle East free trade area, Bush said.

But Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, called it "deeply disappointing" Bush did not include a provision which barred goods made with forced labour from benefiting from the pact. The Senate Finance Committee voted to include that provision as part of its nonbinding recommendations for the implementing bill.