ISDS Case Map
Bilateral deal-making involving governments of West Asia.
Photo: tbz.foto / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
West Asia
Bilateral deal-making involving governments of West Asia.
The taxation environment in the GCC may be on the cusp of significant change.
A Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will be signed between the US and Kuwait by 2013, a senior US official said.
The US has presented a "first draft" of a free trade agreement to Qatar, HE the Finance Minister Yousef Hussain Kamal said.
While US free trade initiatives in the Gulf appear to be faltering, Europe has stepped into the vacuum, launching a charm offensive that appeared to be on the brink of clinching a trade pact with a bloc of six energy-rich Arab states.
The main reason for the delay in the finalisation of the GCC customs union was the unilateral decision by Oman, preceded by Bahrain, to sign a free trade agreement with the US.
US ambassador to Qatar Chase Untermeyer said Tuesday the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Washington and Doha has not yet reached the official negotiations' stage, but he brushed aside reports suggesting that FTA talks were frozen.
The United States expects to finalize a new trade agreement with Lebanon by the end of November, marking progress in Beirut's stalled bid for membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO). Viewed as a prelude to a bilateral free-trade agreement between the two countries, the new Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) should eventually lead to Lebanon's ascension to the WTO, US Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman said in a speech at a dinner hosted by the Lebanese American Chamber of Commerce on Friday.
The southern Province of Basra now has a free-trade zone with neighboring Iran, signaling yet another boost in commercial ties.
In keeping with the global trend, it is free trade agreement (FTA) talks galore in the Gulf. Apart from a deal with Lebanon, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are collectively and individually negotiating FTAs with the United States, European Union and India at present.
Qatari Energy Minister Abdullah Al-Attiyah met with US officials in Washington this week to boost stalled talks on a possible free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries
