ISDS Case Map
Israel
Staff members at a Riyadh hospital got a surprise when they looked at the fine print on the paper cups they were using.
Israel signed an agreement to expand trade with a South American free-trade alliance. The deal is aimed at eventually creating a free-trade area between Israel and MERCOSUR, which encompasses Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela.
At the end of last week, Minister of Finance and Industry, Trade and Labor Ehud Olmert met with Brazil's State of Sao Paolo Governor Geraldo Alckmin in order to promote a free trade region with the Mercosur bloc (Mercado Comun del Sur), comprising Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay. The signing of a framework agreement is expected in December.
United States trade representative Rob Portman designated on Monday a new Qualifying Industrial Zone (QIZ) in Egypt and approved the expansion of two existing zones.
Egypt and Israel have agreed to expand the scope of an agreement which allows Egypt to export products containing a quota of Israeli components to the United States free of customs duties.
Bahrain's parliament yesterday rejected a decision by the government to lift a ban on Israeli goods as part of a trade deal with the United States.
Reports have circulated that Kuwait will lift its embargo on Israel, but they remain unconfirmed. The Kuwaiti daily Al Qabas noted that Kuwait had not yet signed a free-trade agreement with the United States. Such an agreement would not permit a trade embargo on Israel.
The decision to lift boycott of Israel in line with the US FTA does not entail any economic, cultural, political, diplomatic or any other form of normalisation, Bahrain's Foreign Minister said.
Hundreds of people turned up at two separate sites to demonstrate against Bahrain's lifting of a boycott of Israeli goods yesterday
Nineteen societies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have rapped moves to normalise relations with Israel and called for joint national and regional efforts to abort the US-initiated Broader Middle East project.
