EC-PAKISTAN SIGN UNDERSTANDING ON TEXILE TRADE. EC Commission and Pakistani negotiators on 15 October concluded a Memorandum of Understanding that aims to mutually increase market access to the other party’s textile and clothing exports. According to the proposed package, Pakistan would be eligible for the new EC Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) for countries combating drugs, resulting in the elimination of the existing seven percent EC tariff on Pakistani textile and clothing products as well as increasing the respective European import quota by 15 percent on a one-off, across-the-board basis. In return, Pakistan would reduce its duties in the textiles and clothing sector by five percent across the board off of 2001 levels, as well as bind these rates at the WTO before July 2002. For Pakistan, this trade deal would eliminate Euro 150 million of duties per year and would grant additional concessions worth Euro 1 billion. "European Commission Proposes Comprehensive Preferential Trade Package For Pakistan," EU PRESS REPEASE, 16 October 2001.
US RATIFIES FTA WITH VIETNAM. On 17 October, US President George W. Bush signed a bilateral US-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (FTA) which had been concluded by both countries on 13 July 2000. To become legally effective, the FTA now needs to be approved by the Vietnamese National Assembly and ratified by Vietnam’s President Tran Duc Luong. US-Vietnam trade last year totalled approximately US$900 million, about US$800 million of which was Vietnamese exports to the US. As part of the accord, the US agreed to help Vietnam in its WTO accession bid. "US President Ratifies Vietnam-US Trade Agreement," Xinhua via COMTEX, 18 October 2001. ICTSD Internal Files.
JAPAN, SINGAPORE FTA EXPECTED BY THE END OF YEAR. Japan and Singapore have agreed to enter into a comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA) by the end of 2001. The Japan-Singapore Economic Agreement for a New Age Partnership was confirmed by Singapore Premier Goh Chok Tong after meeting Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi during the 17-18 October Asia-Pacific Economic cooperation (APEC) Forum Summit in Shanghai. The trade pact will include investment, customs procedures, movement of people, as well as technology transfer between both countries. Furthermore, Singapore will remove all tariffs from Japanese exports whereas Tokyo will eliminate tariffs in order to provide 94 percent of all imports from Singapore with duty free market access. Due to Japan’s farm lobby objecting to opening up Japan’s markets to cut flowers and ornamental fish from Singapore, agricultural exports had been excluded from the trade deal. "Japan Agrees Trade Accord With Singapore," FT, 15 October 2001; "Singapore And Japan Complete Talks On Joint Economic Agreement," CANNELASIA, 20 October 2001.
SUSTAINABLE INDEXES FOR EUROPE LAUNCHED. On 15 October, Dow Jones Indexes, in cooperation with STOXX and the Sustainability Assessment Management Group SAM launched a new set of sustainability indexes to track Europe’s most sustainable firms. The Dow Jones STOXX Sustainability Indexes track the financial performance of the top 20 percent of the companies in the Dow Jones STOXX 600 index in terms of sustainability, taking into account environmental, social and financial criteria. The creation of these European Indexes has come about in response to increasing interest in regionally focused indexes. Firms are evaluated on features such as environmental reporting, product design, human rights, and corruption policies for the Indexes, which include regional, specialised and customised Indexes. Currently, firms based in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the UK hold the most placements in the list of 120 companies. "Index Launched For Europe’s Greenest Firms," ENS, 17 October 2001; ICTSD Internal Files.