ISDS Case Map
Bahrain
Bahrain's beleaguered garment industry will face additional pressure from a move being presently considered by the American government to sign trade agreements with 16 countries that will allow major garment industry hubs such as Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to move more finished garments to US buyers with reduced or no customs duties.
With free trade agreements, come political leverage. Realising this, the United States is moving fast to sign bilateral FTAs with Gulf countries - in the hope that Washington would be able to fill a vacuum because of the slowness of these Arab states in starting any regional trading mechanisms of their own.
Bahrain businessmen have identified areas to improve bilateral trade relations with the Philippines can be improved including the forging of a free trade agreement (FTA).
An agreement on the protection and promotion of investments between Bahrain and Germany is due to be signed "very soon". Germany is also pushing for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the European Union and the GCC.
The economic importance of the Bahrain-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and its potential impact on the economy and the private sector was discussed in a meeting yesterday at the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI).
As a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) citizen, it is extremely disappointing to note that the controversy surrounding Saudi Arabia's objections to the Bahrain-US free trade agreement (FTA) is threatening the future of the GCC economic integration.
Saudi Finance Minister Dr. Ibrahim Al-Assaf said the Kingdom will be forced to take measures, including legal action, to protect its interests from being harmed by unilateral free trade agreements concluded by Gulf Cooperation Council states with other countries.
Saudi Arabia threatened yesterday to impose customs duties on foreign goods imported duty-free through Gulf Arab countries, intensifying a Saudi-Bahraini row over a trade agreement with the United States.
The US-Bahrain deal undermines the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) as a collective body.
