TIFA
Bangladesh’s Commerce Minister Faruk Khan yesterday said the proposed latest draft of Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (Tifa) would be detrimental to Bangladesh’s interests.
Bangladesh leaders on Thursday discussed two politically sensitive deals it will be negotiating with the United States and India on trade and investment, triggering strong reactions from domestic political and civic groups.
The Communist Party of Bangladesh has said it will protest any kind of "anti-people" agreements including a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) with the US.
US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard A Boucher today said till now Dhaka and Washington did not have an active negotiation on Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (Tifa).
Bangladesh will resume the pending talks with the United States on reaching a deal—Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA)—as new governments in both the countries have assumed offices.
Bangladesh will resume the pending talks with the United States on striking a deal —Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) — as new governments in both the countries have assumed office.
The US authorities have scrapped the draft of the trade and investment framework agreement (TIFA) that took shape in lengthy negotiations in a span of two years between Dhaka and Washington. Instead, the US Trade Representative’s office has recently sent a reworded draft to Bangladesh’s commerce ministry for consideration, which indicates that Washington has not lost its interest in concluding the agreement.
Back in June 2003, then Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz, who had signed the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement on Pakistan’s behalf, said that Pakistan hoped the TIFA would eventually lead to a Free Trade Agreement between the two countries. But neither at that time nor in all the years since then has there been any promise from the US side to follow-up on a Free Trade Agreement.
The US-Sri Lanka TIFA Council discussed issues affecting US exports, such as Sri Lanka’s agricultural biotechnology policies, import tariffs, intellectual property rights protection, and transparency in government procurement.
The UAE has taken a second route to an FTA with the US after failing to meet the time frame originally established by the Trade Promotion Authority granted by Congress: the Tifa-Plus (Trade and Investment Framework Agreement) process, which provides a framework for further discussions on the FTA and on short-term issues.
Government officials in Kuwait expressed their keenness over signing a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States but a senior US economic representative recently noted that talks with regards to the issue are ongoing.
The United States remains lukewarm to the Philippines’ push for a free trade agreement. While the US is seeking Philippine support in the WTO talks, the Philippines is asking the US government to move forward on an FTA or at least craft a new trade and investment framework agreement.
Morphing over the past several years from international pariah to developing, open-market economy, Libya is now actively cultivating trade and investment links with the US.
Kuwait and the US are now at the phase where they are "trying to understand and see whether there is an opportunity to move forward" from a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement to a bilateral investment treaty or free trade agreement, according to a US Treasury Department official.
Feet firmly planted, Juan Castillo, coordinator of Uruguay’s PIT-CNT central union plugged his nose at the visit of US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez here Monday.
Many heavy-hitting US companies are set to capitalise on the groundwork set by the US-Vietnam bilateral trade agreement.
US-Kuwaiti trade talks kicked off yesterday at the experts level tackling a number of economic issues within the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) signed between the two countries in February 2004.