The European Commission asked the Council Feb. 15 to green-light negotiations on a new international agreement on trade in services. Twenty-one WTO members (48 including EU members) will be at the table to begin with, but the EU wants others to join, the EC said. The EU also wants the pact to dovetail with WTO rules so it can later be folded into the WTO system.
Dugie Standeford
Dugie Standeford, European Correspondent, Communications Daily and Privacy Daily, is a former lawyer. She joined Warren Communications News in 2000 to report on internet policy and regulation. In 2003 she moved to the U.K. and since then has covered European telecommunications issues. She previously covered the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and intellectual property law matters. She has a degree in psychology from Duke University and a law degree from the University of Tulsa College of Law.
The euro area had an international trade in goods surplus of 11.7 billion euros ($15.6 billion) in December, compared with an 8 billion-euro surplus last December, Eurostat said Tuesday. The euro area encompasses Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland. The first estimate for the December 2012 extra-EU27 trade in goods balance, however, was a 0.7-billion euro deficit, compared with a 0.2 billion-euro deficit in December 2011, Eurostat said. The EU27 includes Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden and the U.K.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is holding a series of meetings during a Feb. 11-13 business delegation to Mexico City, Mexico. Senior executives from 20 key U.S. companies are looking to identity significant investment opportunities in the country and expand existing business opportunities for U.S. exporters. While in Mexico, the delegation will meet with federal and regional government officials as well as Mexican business leaders to promote pro-trade and pro-growth economic policies in both countries.
The Maritime Administration is requesting comments by March 15 on extension of a currently approved information collection on applications for capital construction fund and exhibits, it said in a Federal Register notice scheduled for Feb. 13. The affected public is U.S. citizens who own or lease one or more eligible vessels and who have a program to provide for the acquisition, construction or reconstruction of a qualified vessel.
Madagascar Prime Minister Jean Omer Beriziky pledged his support for customs reform, including the fight against corruption, and stressed the need to boost controls against illegal trade, in Feb. 5-7 meetings with World Customs Organization Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya and other government officials, the WCO said. Mikuriya observed customs operations at Toamasina, the country's largest port, which the organization said were well coordinated between the port authority, container service company and customs. In addition, an advanced scanner was installed last year and customs intends to reduce the current scanning rate of about 30% of containers at import by upgrading the automated selectivity system, it said. The growing problem of rosewood smuggling from Madagascar to East Asia has forced customs to put 100% container scanning in place for export.
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The U.S. is “very disappointed” with Russia's decision to suspend, as of Feb. 11, all imports of U.S. meat, which is produced to the highest safety standards in the world, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Monday. They accused Russia of disregarding the “extensive and expert scientific studies” conducted by the international food safety standards body Codex Alimentarius Commission, which they said has consistently shown that animal feed containing the additive ractopamine is completely safe for livestock and the humans that consume their meat. Despite repeated U.S. requests to discuss the safety of ractopamine, Russia has “refused to engage in any constructive dialogue” and instead has simply barred the meats from import, they said. They urged Russia to reopen market access immediately and to abide by its WTO obligations.
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