More Trade News in Brief Week 16 (14 – 20 April 2014)

* Trade developments in 2013-2015

 

WTO published a work paper on the state of the world economy and trade in 2013 and previsions for 2014-2015.

 

 Download this press release.

 

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* ISO’s 2013 Annual Report

 

International Organization for Standardization (ISO) published its 2013 report including themes like: financial statements, ISO key figures for 2013, an updated interactive map featuring our members and their participation in technical work and a fold-out leaflet.

 

 

Discover ISO’s Annual Report 2013.

 

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* Malta & Moldova Sign DTA

 

Malta and Moldova sign a dual taxation treaty (DTT).

 

Click here more.

 

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* Belgium: FATCA Deal With US

 

Belgium and the US will sign an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) in Brussels on April 23 for the implementation of the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

 

See more about following the link.

 

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News from BIS

 

* Capital Requirements for Bank Exposures to Central Counterparties

 

Bank for International Settlements (BIS), in collaboration with BCBS, the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems (CPSS), and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) completed its work on the capital treatment of bank exposures to central counterparties.

 

The final standard will take effect on 1 January 2017.

 

Check here for more.

 

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* Supervisory Framework for Measuring and Controlling Large Exposures

 

Bank for International Settlements (BIS) sets out a supervisory framework for measuring and controlling large exposures.

 

The framework is scheduled to take effect from 1 January 2019.

 

Check here for more.

 

News from UNCTAD

 

* The ICTPR Framework

 

 

UNCTAD has developed a model framework and methodology for conducting information and communications technologies (ICTs) policy reviews: The ICTPR Framework.

 

 

Find the publication here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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* Bilateral FDI Statistics

 

The UNCTAD’s Bilateral FDI Statistics provides up-to-date and systematic FDI data for 206 economies around the world, covering inflows (table 1), outflows (table 2), inward stock (table 3) and outward stock (table 4) by region and economy.

 

Read more about following the link.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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* Review of Investor-State Dispute Settlement Cases

 

UNCTAD publishes its annual review of investor-State dispute settlement cases (ISDS).

 

You can download it from here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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* 2013 Trade Statistics

 

According to UNCTAD and WTO estimates, world merchandise exports grew by 2%, while services trade recorded 5% increase in 2013.

 

For more details, check here.

 

Access to data:

• Volume index and growth rates of merchandise exports and imports, quarterly, Q1 2005-Q4 2013
• Values and shares of merchandise exports and imports, annual, 1948-2013
• Merchandise trade balance, annual, 1948-2013
• Value growth rates of merchandise exports and imports, annual, 1950-2013
• Value, shares and growth of services exports and imports by service-category, annual, 1980-2013
• Values, shares and growth of exports and imports of total services, annual, 1980-2013

 

 

News about FTAs

 

* Australia signs FTA with Japan

 

Japan and Australia signed a historic free trade agreement.

 

Read more here.

 

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* South Korea & Australia Inked FTA

 

South Korea and Australia signed a comprehensive, high level FTA as per their comments.

 

Check here for more.

 

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* Mexico & Panama – FTA

 

Mexico and Panama signed a free trade agreement (FTA). Panama’s desire is to join latter to the Pacific Alliance (PA) trade bloc.

 

Read more here.

 

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* Mercosur & EFTA to Start FTA Talks

 

EFTA (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland) and Mercosur member states (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela) will start discussions on a free trade agreement (FTA) in the coming months.

 

Find more following the link.

 

 

News from EU

 

* Labour Force Survey 2013

 

Eurostat Commission published the EU’s statistics on the labour market for 2013.

 

Find the report here.

 

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* First EU Transport Scoreboard

 

EU Transport Scoreboard compares Member State performance in 22 transport-relevant categories.

 

Check the EU Transport Scoreboard.

 

Please find the related Memo and the Press release.

 

 

 

News from ITU

 

* Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI)

 

The United Nations International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in collaboration with ABI Research launched an initiative to measure the levels of cyber security worldwide.

 

Check here for more.

 

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* US to Transit Responsibilities over Internet

 

The US Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NITA) plans to transition key oversight of domain names and other aspects of the Internet’s architecture to the global community through International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

 

Read more here.

 

IPCC Report 2014

 

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued the 2014 report on climate change.

 

The report, titled Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability states the effects of climate change are already occurring on all continents and across the oceans and the world is not ready for the impacts of climate change.

 

Download the entire report from here.