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South Asia Free Trade Agreement
The South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) is a 2004 agreement that created a free-trade area of 1.6 billion people in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka with the vision of increasing economic cooperation and integration. One of the major goals was to reduce customs duties of all traded goods to zero by 2016. SAFTA required the developing countries in South Asia (India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) to bring their duties down to 20 percent in the first phase of the two-year period ending in 2007. In the final five-year phase ending in 2012, the 20-percent duty was reduced to zero in a series of annual cuts. The least developed countries in the region had an additional three years to reduce tariffs to zero. India and Pakistan ratified the treaty in 2009, whereas Afghanistan, as the eighth member state of the SAARC, ratified the SAFTA protocol on 4 May 2011. History SAPTA The establishment of an Inter-Governmental Group (IGG) to formul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of SAARC Summits
The information given is about the list of summits of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Although the SAARC Charter requires approximately every eighteenth months. Member countries of SAARC include: 1. Nepal 2. Bhutan 3. Sri Lanka 4. Maldives 5. Pakistan 6. Bangladesh 7. India 8. Afghanistan Member nations Summits of SAARC First summit 1st Bangladesh The first summit was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 7–8 December 1985 and was attended by the Government representative and president of Bangladesh, Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the kings of Bhutan and Nepal, and the Prime Minister of India. signed the SAARC Charter on 8 December 1985, thereby establishing the regional association, and established study groups on the problems of terrorism and drug trafficking, as well as planning a ministerial-level meeting about GATT, and a ministerial-level conference on increasing the participation of women at the regional level. The summit also agreed to esta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rules Of Origin
Rules of origin are the rules to attribute a country of origin to a product in order to determine its "economic nationality". The need to establish rules of origin stems from the fact that the implementation of trade policy measures, such as tariffs, quotas, trade remedies, in various cases, depends on the country of origin of the product at hand. Rules of origin have become a challenging topic in international trade, not only because they constitute a highly technical area of rule-making, but also because their designation and application have not been harmonized across the world. The lack of harmony is even more remarkable in the era of regionalism, when more and more free trade agreements (FTAs) are concluded, creating the spaghetti bowl effect. Definition of rules of origin The most comprehensive definition for rules of origin is found in the International Convention on the Simplification and Harmonization of Customs procedures (Kyoto Convention), which entered into forc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Asian Economic Union
The South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) is a 2004 agreement that created a free-trade area of 1.6 billion people in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka with the vision of increasing economic cooperation and integration. One of the major goals was to reduce customs duties of all traded goods to zero by 2016. SAFTA required the developing countries in South Asia (India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) to bring their duties down to 20 percent in the first phase of the two-year period ending in 2007. In the final five-year phase ending in 2012, the 20-percent duty was reduced to zero in a series of annual cuts. The least developed countries in the region had an additional three years to reduce tariffs to zero. India and Pakistan ratified the treaty in 2009, whereas Afghanistan, as the eighth member state of the SAARC, ratified the SAFTA protocol on 4 May 2011. History SAPTA The establishment of an Inter-Governmental Group (IGG) to formul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SAARC Consortium On Open And Distance Learning
The SAARC Consortium on Open and Distance Learning (SACODiL) is a regional cooperation agency set up under the auspices of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) with the objectives of promoting cooperation and collaboration among institutions imparting knowledge through open and distance learning within member states, and promoting its use as a viable and cost-effective method of imparting quality education at all levels. History During the Tenth SAARC Summit held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, a declaration was made on July 31, 1998, that; amongst other matters; mandated the establishment of a ''SAARC Forum of Vice Chancellors of Open Universities''. This Forum, consisting of regional leaders in the field, should strengthen cooperation in areas such as the sharing and joint development of programmes, credit transfers for specific programmes and the translation of existing programmes. The Forum first met in Colombo, Sri Lanka on January 25–27, 1999 and during the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Market Access
In international trade, market access is a company's ability to enter a foreign market by selling its goods and services in another country. Market access is not the same as free trade, because market access is normally subject to conditions or requirements (such as tariffs or quotas), whereas under ideal free trade conditions goods and services can circulate across borders without any barriers to trade. Expanding market access is therefore often a more achievable goal of trade negotiations than achieving free trade. Market access concessions and limitations to market access differ greatly between trade in goods and trade in services. While market access for goods mainly involves measures at the border such as customs duties or quantitative restrictions, market access for services relates more to the application of domestic regulation behind the border. Moreover, in a world of proliferating regionalism, preferential market access for goods and services also have distinctive charact ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian Ocean Rim Association For Regional Cooperation
The Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), formerly known as the Indian Ocean Rim Initiative and the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC), is an international organisation consisting of 23 states bordering the Indian Ocean. The IORA is a regional forum, tripartite in nature, bringing together representatives of Government, Business and Academia, for promoting co-operation and closer interaction among them. It is based on the principles of Open Regionalism for strengthening Economic Cooperation particularly on Trade Facilitation and Investment, Promotion as well as Social Development of the region. The Coordinating Secretariat of IORA is located at Ebene, Mauritius. Overview The organisation was first established as Indian Ocean Rim Initiative in Mauritius in March 1995 and formally launched on 6–7 March 1997 by the conclusion of a multilateral treaty known as the Charter of the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Co-operation. The idea is said to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Free-trade Area
A free-trade area is the region encompassing a trade bloc whose member countries have signed a free trade agreement (FTA). Such agreements involve cooperation between at least two countries to reduce trade barriers, import quotas and tariffs, and to increase trade of goods and services with each other. If natural persons are also free to move between the countries, in addition to a free-trade agreement, it would also be considered an open border. It can be considered the second stage of economic integration. Customs unions are a special type of free-trade area. All such areas have internal arrangements which parties conclude in order to liberalize and facilitate trade among themselves. The crucial difference between customs unions and free-trade areas is their approach to third parties. While a customs union requires all parties to establish and maintain identical external tariffs with regard to trade with non-parties, parties to a free-trade area are not subject to this requiremen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bay Of Bengal Initiative For Multi-Sectoral Technical And Economic Cooperation
The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an international organisation of seven South Asian and Southeast Asian nations, housing 1.73 billion people and having a combined gross domestic product of US$4.4 trillion (2022). The BIMSTEC member states – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand – are among the countries dependent on the Bay of Bengal. Fourteen priority sectors of cooperation have been identified and several BIMSTEC centres have been established to focus on those sectors. A BIMSTEC free trade agreement is under negotiation (c. 2018), also referred Similar to SAARC. Leadership is rotated in alphabetical order of country names. The permanent secretariat is in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Background On 6 June 1997, a new sub-regional grouping was formed in Bangkok under the name BIST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand Economic Cooperation). Following the inclusion of Myanmar on 22 D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asia-Pacific Trade Agreements Database
ThAsia-Pacific Trade and Investment Agreements Database (APTIAD)is a resource for researchers and policymakers in the area of international trade and investment. The online database allows searches in two ways. One relates to the agreements themselves where users can search by agreements, members, key terms, types and scopes of agreements and their status. Another possibility is to search publications relevant to regional integration and trade agreements. For easier use of the database, users can download a glossary of related terms from thwebsite Trade Agreements Database ThTrade Agreements Databasecomponent of APTIAD is designed to give researchers and policymakers both an overview of, and easy access to, all the regional and bilateral trade agreements entered into or under negotiation by the countries of the Asia and Pacific region. As of June 2008 there were 136 such agreements, including those agreements that have not been notified to the WTO but for which there is official info ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asian Clearing Union
The Asian Clearing Union (ACU) was established on December 9, 1974, at the initiative of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). The primary objective of ACU, at the time of its establishment, was to secure regional co-operation regarding the clearing of eligible monetary transactions among the members of the Union to provide a system for clearing payments among the member countries on a multilateral basis. Objectives * To facilitate settlement of payments on a multilateral basis, * To promote the use of participants' currencies, * To promote monetary co-operation among the participants, * To provide for currency swap arrangement among the participants. Settlement Process Period: Bimonthly Settlement Payment Deadline: T+4 Currency Swap Arrangements Eligibility: Any participant in net deficit Time of request: Before the end of a settlement period Amount: 20% of the average gross payments (ACU dollar/euro/yen accounts collectively ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asia Cooperation Dialogue
The Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) is an intergovernmental organization created on 18 June 2002 to promote Asian cooperation at a continental level and to ensure coordination among different regional organizations such as the ASEAN, the Gulf Cooperation Council, the Eurasian Economic Union, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and the SAARC. It is the first international organization to cover the whole of Asia. Its secretariat is in Kuwait. History The idea of an Asia Cooperation Dialogue was raised at the First International Conference of Asian Political Parties (held in Manila between 17–20 September 2000) by Surakiart Sathirathai, then deputy leader of the now defunct Thai Rak Thai Party, on behalf of his party leader, Thaksin Shinawatra, then Prime Minister of Thailand. It was suggested that Asia as a continent should have its own forum to discuss Asia-wide cooperation. Afterwards, the idea of the ACD was formally put forward during the 34th ASEAN Foreign Ministers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
