ISDS Case Map
UAE
The June 30 expiration of the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), which allowed the Bush administration to negotiate trade agreements that cannot be amended by Congress, has shattered all hopes of a revival of the stalled US free trade negotiations with the UAE and other GCC countries.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has emphasised the need to expedite the process of signing a free trade agreement (FTA) between Pakistan and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), saying that the attractive demographics of Pakistan have created growing economic opportunities.
President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed their firm determination to develop bilateral relations between the UAE and Japan at all levels.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is on course to meet a 2010 deadline to form a monetary union, the UAE Central Bank Governor, Sultan bin Nasser Al Suwaidi, said yesterday. "There is no delay to forming a currency union," he said, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an Islamic Banking Conference held in Dubai.
Keen to boost their trade and economic ties, India and the UAE today revised their agreement on Double Taxation Avoidance and signed a pact for exchange of information between the stock exchange regulators.
The United States and the United Arab Emirates still hope to reach a free trade agreement and plan to resume talks whenever the White House wins new "fast-track" trade negotiating authority, officials from both countries said on Monday.
US trade officials said yesterday they would not finish free trade talks with the UAE by a deadline at the end of this month. Investment is one issue that negotiators have failed to find agreement on.
The UAE is negotiating eight free-trade agreements with key economic blocks that will have an impact on trade worth Dh388 billion, according to 2005 figures, and cement the country's position as the economic hub of the Middle East.
The UAE and the United States have confirmed that the negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will continue, officials said. "The talks are not suspended. What happened is that the documentation will not be ready by the March 31 deadline," US Ambassador Michele J. Sison told Gulf News yesterday.
Talks between the US and the UAE over a free trade agreement have been suspended after both parties failed to agree on how the Gulf state would open up its markets to US investors and banks. The FTA will now miss the March 31 deadline.
