More Trade News in Brief – Week 11 (11 – 17 March 2013)

 

* EU-US Trade Talks to Start

 

12 March 2013, Brussels

 

The European Commission agreed the draft mandate for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement with the United States, the draft mandate will be sent to the Council for the Member States to approve.

 

Read more here.

 

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* Brazil Joins the UN CISG

 

5 March 2013, Vienna

 

Brazil becomes the 79th State Party to the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG).

 

Further information on the CISG is available on the UNCITRAL website at www.uncitral.org.

 

Check here too.

 

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* The Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts

 

1 March 2013, Vienna

 

The United Nations Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts entered into force on 1 March 2013.

 

Further information on the Convention is available on the UNCITRAL website at www.uncitral.org.

 

Kindly follow the link for more.

 

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More Trade News in Brief – Week 9 (25 February – 3 March 2013)

 

* New ISO Standard for Electronic Signatures

 

The new ISO standard secures the electronic signatures when the documents they authenticate are transferred and processed through different information technology systems.

 

• ISO 14533-1:2012, Processes, data elements and documents in commerce, industry and administration – Long term signature profiles – Part 1: Long term signature profiles for CMS Advanced Electronic Signatures (CAdES)
• ISO 14533-2:2012, Processes, data elements and documents in commerce, industry and administration – Long term signature profiles – Part 2: Long term signature profiles for XML Advanced Electronic Signatures (XAdES)

Check here.

 

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* GVCs and Development: Investment and Value Added Trade in the Global Economy

 

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) describes in a new report regarding the global value chains (GVC) and its importance in investment and trade.

 

Please follow the link.

 

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* Azerbaijan & Lesotho – New Members of the Global Forum on Tax Transparency

 

The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, multilateral framework carried out by both OECD and non-OECD economies, welcomes Azerbaijan and the Kingdom of Lesotho as new members.

 

Click here for more.

 

Read more on the work of the Global Forum here and here.

 

 

New UN ESCAP – World Bank Database

 

6 February 2013

 

 A new database developed jointly by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the World Bank reveals the world trading system challenges.

 

Please find here the new Trade Costs Database.

 

More Trade News in Brief – Week 3 (14 – 20 January 2013)

* Hong Kong & Italy Signed DTA

 

14 January 2013, Hong Kong

 

Hong Kong & Italy signed a bilateral double taxation agreement (DTA).

 

Check here for more.

 

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* US – Spain Updated DTA

 

14 January 2013, Madrid

 

US and Spain signed a protocol modifying the existing agreement aimed at avoiding double taxation and preventing tax evasion.

 

Find more here.

 

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* Final FATCA Regulations

 

The United States Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued comprehensive final regulations implementing the information reporting and withholding tax provisions for foreign financial institutions (FFIs) under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

 

Follow the link for more details.

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* UN – World Economic Situation and Prospects 2013

 

The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) published the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2013.

 

Check here.

 

Global Economic Outlook 2013

 

* WB – International Debt Statistics 2013

 

World Bank (WB) released the International Debt Statistics 2013.

 

Check for more here.

 

 

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* UN – Prospects for the World economy in 2013-2014

 

United Nations (UN) published the Prospects for the World Economy in 2013-2014.

 

Find more here.

 

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* 2013 Index of Economic Freedom

 

The Wall Street Journal and The Heritage Foundation, Washington’s preeminent think tank, issued the 2013 Index of Economic Freedom.

 

Please follow the link.

 

World Still on Unsustainable Path – UN

6 June 2012

 

According to the fifth edition of the Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-5), launched on the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), from the 90 of the most important environmental goals and objectives only it has been notice a significant progress in four of them.

 

More here.

A Global System for Aviation Carbon Emissions

 

After China, India, the United States and Russia oppose the EU’s Emissions Trading System directives, EU might alter its ETS if an agreement is reached.

 

A global system for aviation carbon emissions have been introduced in discussion by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a U.N. body, and it is supported by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), an industry group, which opposes the European charges.

 

More here.

UN Guidelines to Protect Rights on Land, Fisheries and Forests

11 May 2012, Rome

 

The Committee on World Food Security (CFS), an United Nations-backed committee, published the new Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security. The documents, which is not legally binding, represent a set of far-reaching global guidelines to help governments protect the rights of people to own or access land, forests and fisheries.

New FAO Statistical Yearbook 2012

20 March 2012, Rome

 

The FAO’s Statistical Yearbook is a wide-range collection and a main reference point for statistical data on food and agriculture. The new Statistical Yearbook 2012 present revised format that give a better picture around food and agriculture numbers related to economic, environmental and social trends and issues.

 

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was founded in October 1945 and is the largest autonomous agency within the United Nations system. The main objectives of the organisation are to raise levels of nutrition and standards of living, to improve agricultural productivity, to encourage sustainable agriculture and rural development, to implant strategies for the conservation and management of natural resources.

 

The FAO statistical publication is divided in five parts:

Part I – The Setting (the state of the agricultural resource base, people and demography, labour, capital, infrastructure, macroeconomic dates)

Part II – Hunger Dimensions (with reviews regarding: risks, hazards and shocks, malnutrition, trade and food security, food prices and food price volatility, education, health and sanitation)

Part  III – Feeding the World (taking a tour of: trends in crop sector, in the livestock sector, in the fisheries sector and in agricultural trade)

Part IV – Sustainability Dimensions (examines the sustainability of agriculture, land, water, pollution, climate change, biodiversity and conservation, organic farming, genetically modified crops)

Part V – Metadata (concepts, methods and bibliography)

 

Every section of the yearbook is accompanied by background and narrative text, charts, maps and references to additional publication. The FAO document is available in both online and print forms.