ISDS Case Map
services
Players in the services industry from across the East Africa Community region are working on a raft of reforms that could unlock potential ahead of the signing of economic partnership agreements (EPAs) with the European Commission.
An agreement has been signed between the Polish Ministry for State Treasury and Eureko to pay the insurer an interim dividend in November 2009 worth €1.85bn.
India and Sri Lanka are expected to sign a new economic agreement next year covering both goods and services, said the island nation's Minister of Investment Promotion Navin Dissanayake.
The China and Pakistan free trade zone service trade agreement will take effect on Oct. 10, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on Thursday.
India looks forward to accessing the vast services market of Asean and is currently negotiating an agreement on trade in services and investments with the group.
Liberalisation in air transport, tourism, telecommunications and healthcare will deepen further next year, when Asean members will be allowed to own 70 per cent of such companies in the region.
South Asian Economists and Academics said that integrating the region through services liberalization would require a flexible approach that permits special and differential treatment of least developed countries in the region and also of countries least prepared to open up their services for trade.
Unlike other bilateral agreements, the potential implications of India-EU FTA would be far-reaching since nine EU-based banks together controlled 65% of total assets of foreign banks in India in 2008. By asset size, out of the top 10 foreign banks in India, six are European.
South Asia has commenced negotiations in to incorporating trade in services to the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) but a lack of data could slow things down, a senior Economist said.
The report looks at how financial services liberalisation, and especially the entry and ongoing presence of foreign banks in the global south, as promoted at the World Trade Organisation and through European bilateral trade deals, leads to the prioritisation of richer customers and larger companies resulting in poorer customers losing out.
