Building Bridges

Building Bridges

Author: Ahmed Galal

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Published: 2001-06-07

Total Pages: 146

ISBN-13: 9780815723219

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In April 1997, Egyptian President Mubarak and U.S. Vice President Gore agreed to explore the possibility of creating a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Egypt and the United States. The very idea of such an agreement has been met by controversy and skepticism from critics in both countries. The authors of this book, however, believe that the case for considering an FTA between the U.S. and Egypt rests on solid economic and political grounds. An agreement could help promote Egyptian economic reform and growth, while providing substantial economic benefits to the U.S. Politically, it could strengthen American ties with an ally who plays a crucial role in helping to achieve peace in the region and in maintaining a stable supply of oil in the Middle East. This book offers U.S. and Egyptian policymakers answers to such pertinent questions as: What form should an FTA agreement take? Should it concentrate on border barriers or cover other aspects such as investments and services? What are the likely implications for both countries? And how will such an agreement affect the rest of the region? Its conclusions will be relevant to policymakers elsewhere in their pursuit of similar regional trade agreements. Copublished with the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies


Adjusting to New Realities

Adjusting to New Realities

Author: Ms.Patricia Alonso-Gamo

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 1997-01-01

Total Pages: 56

ISBN-13: 1451842147

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This paper addresses concerns that the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, with the exception of the GCC economies, has lagged behind in trade liberalization. This delay has adversely affected production efficiency and consumer welfare and could reduce the region’s ability to attract foreign investment. Against this background, the paper examines the major challenges facing MENA if it is to benefit from the opportunities presented by the Uruguay Round and the European Union Mediterranean Initiative. It concludes with an overview of measures that MENA countries will need to implement to benefit from these trade-enhancing initiatives.


Building on Progress

Building on Progress

Author: International Monetary Fund

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 1996-11-04

Total Pages: 84

ISBN-13: 9781557756251

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Countries in the Middle East and North Africa region have unprecedented opportunities for transforming their economies through accelerated economic growth, but the countries themselves must ensure the necessary conditions. This study, by the Middle Eastern Department, focuses on four areas that are fundamental to growth-enhancing structural changes: improving the region's investment performance, fiscal reform, financial sector reform, and trade liberalization.


The Convergence of Civilizations

The Convergence of Civilizations

Author: Emanuel Adler

Publisher: University of Toronto Press

Published: 2006-01-01

Total Pages: 409

ISBN-13: 0802038042

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Represents the output of an innovative collaborative project focused on the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP). This book sets out to show that regional security and stability may be achieved through a cultural approach based on the concept of regional identity construction.


Migrating Enterprise and Migrant Entrepreneurship

Migrating Enterprise and Migrant Entrepreneurship

Author: Stephan Raes

Publisher: Het Spinhuis

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 9789055891719

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From the 1960s onwards the clothing industry in the Neth- erlands and elsewhere in the European Union, experienced a deep crisis. Numerous firms went bankrupt and workers lost their jobs. Imports from low wage countries started providing the bulk of retailers' collections. However, in the 1980s a surprising development took place. In Amsterdam a substantial number of new small clothing firms mostly run by Turkish immigrants were established focusing on short-cycle production. During the 1990s most of these disappeared again. At the same time the import pattern changed to the Mediterranean and Eastern Europe. Stephan Raes shows that the large retailers have become the most powerful players in the sector, and he places the developments against the background of transformations in the political economy of the Netherlands and Turkey. Stephan Raes is an economic anthropologist who currently works at the department of foreign economic relations of the Ministry of Economic Affairs in the Netherlands.


Globalization and International Trade Policies

Globalization and International Trade Policies

Author: Robert Mitchell Stern

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 794

ISBN-13: 9812798099

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This book brings together a collection of papers that Robert M Stern and his co-authors have written in recent years. The collection addresses a variety of issues pertinent to the global trading system. One group of papers deals with globalization in terms of what the public needs to know about this phenomenon and the role of the World Trade Organization (WTO), whether some countries may be hurt by globalization, how global market integration relates to national sovereignty, and how and whether considerations of fairness are and should be dealt with in the global trading system and WTO negotiations. A second group of papers consists of analytical and computational modeling studies of multilateral, regional, and bilateral trading arrangements and negotiations from a global and national perspective for the United States and other major trading countries. The remaining papers include an empirical analysis of barriers to international services transactions and the consequences of liberalization, and issues of international trade and labor standards. Sample Chapter(s). Chapter 1: Introduction and Overview (97 KB). Contents: Globalization: What the Public Should Know about Globalization and the World Trade Organization (A V Deardorff & R M Stern); Globalization''s Bystanders: Does Trade Liberalization Hurt Countries That Do Not Participate? (A V Deardorff & R M Stern); Global Market Integration and National Sovereignty (A G Brown & R M Stern); Concepts of Fairness in the Global Trading System (A G Brown & R M Stern); Analysis of Multilateral, Regional, and Bilateral Trading Arrangements: Multilateral Trade Negotiations and Preferential Trading Arrangements (A V Deardorff & R M Stern); An Overview of the Modeling of the Choices and Consequences of US Trade Policies (A V Deardorff & R M Stern); Issues of Manufactures Liberalization and Administered Protection in the Doha Round (A V Deardorff & R M Stern); An Assessment of the Economic Effects of the Menu of US Trade Policies (K Kiyota & R M Stern); Trade Diversion Under NAFTA (K Fukao et al.); Some Economic Effects of the Free Trade Agreement between Tunisia and the European Union (D K Brown et al.); A North American Free Trade Agreement: Analytical Issues and a Computational Assessment (D K Brown et al.); Computable General Equilibrium Estimates of the Gains from US-Canadian Trade Liberalization (D K Brown & R M Stern); The Effects of the Tokyo Round on the Structure of Protection (A V Deardorff & R M Stern); Services Trade: Empirical Analysis of Barriers to International Services Transactions and the Consequences of Liberalization (A V Deardorff & R M Stern); International Trade and Labor Standards: Pros and Cons of Linking Trade and Labor Standards (D K Brown et al.); The Effects of Multinational Production on Wages and Working Conditions in Developing Countries (D K Brown et al.); US Trade and Other Policy Options and Programs to Deter Foreign Exploitation of Child Labor (D K Brown et al.); Labor Standards and International Trade (R M Stern). Readership: Upper-level undergraduates, post graduates, academics, researchers and policy-makers in international trade and finance.


Economic and Political Impediments to Middle East Peace

Economic and Political Impediments to Middle East Peace

Author: J.W. Wright Jr

Publisher: Springer

Published: 1999-11-09

Total Pages: 277

ISBN-13: 0333994264

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The accords and protocols that underlie the Arab and Israeli peace agreements set into place economic policies and political processes so flawed that they are bound to fail. The chapters in this volume look at the diplomatic and historical precedents that have led to this situation and they debate - some cynically and some sympathetically - the reasons why the institutional structures and trade regimes the process has created are so weak. But for whatever reason, the structural flaws built into the Middle East peace process are not only biased toward the dominant players but against the people who most want peace.


Does Membership in a Regional Preferential Trade Arrangement Make a Country More Or Less Protectionist?

Does Membership in a Regional Preferential Trade Arrangement Make a Country More Or Less Protectionist?

Author: Faezeh Foroutan

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 43

ISBN-13:

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March 1998 It seems participation in a regional trade agreement does not necessarily lead to a more liberal import regime. Foroutan explores whether a systematic relationship exists between a developing country's participation in a preferential regional trade agreement (RTA) and the restrictiveness of its trade regime. The motivation for her study is provided by the current debate about whether regional trading blocs are a stepping-stone toward a more liberal global trading system and whether these blocs have changed over time so that the new blocs differ meaningfully from the old ones in terms of openness to the rest of the world. She restricts analysis to reciprocal RTAs involving developing countries in partnership either with industrial countries (North-South RTAs) or with other developing countries (South-South RTAs). Nearly every developing country belongs to one or more RTAs, so Foroutan develops criteria for distinguishing effective from noneffective regional blocs. She then taps into many sources of data to compare levels of restrictiveness. She finds no evidence that participation in a regional trade agreement necessarily leads to a more liberal import regime. This paper-a product of International Trade, Development Research Group-is part of a larger effort in the group to study preferential trade issues. The author may be contacted at [email protected].