More Trade News in Brief – Week 20 (14 – 19 May 2013)

 

* US, UK, Australia – Tax Information

 

United States, Australia and the United Kingdom have developed a plan to share tax information.

 

Check here for more.

 

——————————————————————————————————————————————–— 

 

* ASEAN–EU: A Strategic Partnership

 

EU and ASEAN signed their first inter-regional cooperation agreement four decades ago, now it is thinking that a Strategic Partnership should be implemented.

 

Read more about following the link.

 

——————————————————————————————————————————————–—

 

* EU – New Rules on Credit Rating Agencies

 

The Council of European Union adopted a directive and a regulation amending the EU’s rules on credit rating agencies (CRAs).

 

Check here the New rules on credit rating agencies.

 

Advertisement

The European Union Approach to Technology and Innovation

 

* Science and Technology Advisory Council

 

The European Commission announced the creation of a Science and Technology Advisory Council.

 

The Council is an independent and informal group of outstanding science and technology experts from academia, business and civil society from across the European Research Area.

 

Check here please.

 

——————————————————————————————————————————————–—

 

* Key Enabling Technologies – KETs

 

The Key Enabling Technologies, or simply KETs – nanotechnology, micro-/nanoelectronics, industrial biotechnology, advanced materials, photonics and advanced manufacturing technologies – represent and exceptional importance for the future innovation and competitiveness of the EU.

 

To assure and improve access to finance for investments in KETs, the European Commission and the European Investment Bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding.

 

Kindly find additional information here.

 

 

EU and US to Start Negations for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

 

13 February 2013, Brussels and Washington

 

The European Union and the United States announced that negotiations  for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the E.U and the U.S. would begin in the near future.

 

For further details please check the following links:

– EU Press Release

– The White House (Office of the Press Secretary)

– Tax News

 

 

 

 

Bolivia Invited to Join MERCOSUR

23 November 2012, La Paz (Bolivia)

 

Bolivia was formally invited to join Mercosur as a full member and the negotiations are expected to begin in the coming summit (6 -7 December 2012, Brazil).

 

Bolivia is an associate member of Mercosur now like Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

 

Kindly check here.

EFTA & Pakistan Signed Joint Declaration on Cooperation

12 November 2012 Geneva

 

European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and Pakistan signed a trade pact, Joint Declaration on Cooperation, which will be followed by Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), as first steps to the possibility of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two sides.

 

Please read more here.

 

Enterprise Europe Network Extended

22 October 2012

 

The Enterprise Europe Network opened branches in India and Canada and reinforced presence in China.

 

For more information about the Enterprise Europe Network follow the link.

 

Set up in 2008, the Enterprise Europe Network is the EU’s business and innovation support network with close to 600 local organisations in 52 countries. The propose of it is to ease the way for companies to start trading abroad, find business or technology partners and access EU funding.

 

Please check for more here.

European Union’s Agreements

* Algeria Delays Implementation of FTA with EU

 

Algeria has successfully asked for more time to fully lift tariff restrictions with the European Union (EU) under the new Free Trade Agreement (FTA) which entered into force on September 1, 2012.

 

Now, the EU-Algeria free trade agreement should be fully phased-in by 2020, and not by 2017.

 

 ———————————————————————————————————————————————–

 

* ACP Group Urged To Conclude EPA Negotiations with EU

 

The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) aimed to conclude their negotiations on an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU) this year.

 

African Continental Free Trade Agreement Project

The African leaders are taking in consideration on for their 19th African Union (AU) 2012 summit meeting the ambitious idea of an Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) by 2017.

 

More here.

Easier Access to WTO for Least Developed Countries (LDCs)

6 July 2012

 

The World Trade Organization (WTO) approved proposals to streamline and facilitate the accession process for Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

 

For more details, please refer to the next news.

Europe 2020 Project Bond Initiative

5 July 2012, Brussels

 

The European Parliament adopted the proposal for a pilot phase of the Project Bond Initiative. This is an important initiative to mobilise the necessary funding for project financing in sectors of transport (TEN-T), energy (TEN-E) and information and communication technology (ICT).

 

Please check the next links:

 

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/12/525&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

 

http://www.eib.org/about/news/key-role-for-the-eib-in-europe-2020-project-bond-initiative.htm

 

http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/consultation/index_en.htm