• TRADE AND INVESTMENT PUBLICATIONS
• SELECTED WORLDWIDE WEBSITES

2007 Trade Policy Agenda and 2006 Annual Report of the President of the United States on the Trade Agreements Program. March 2007. Available online (PDF-Format, 467 pages, 1.9 MB). Executive Office of the President of the United States of America.
The first part of this report outlines the 2007 trade policy agenda of the United States of America. It highlights the continuing efforts in multilateral, bilateral and regional trade liberalization as well as in working on a bold, growth-oriented agenda with Congress, industry and public interest groups, as well as the American people. The second and substantial part of this publication is comprised of the 2006 annual report on the trade agreements programme. This part focuses issues related to the World Trade Organization (WTO) including the Doha Development Agenda; bilateral and regional agreements; trade enforcement activities such as dispute settlement, anti-dumping actions and countervailing duty actions; and trade policy development.
Accessed on 6 March
< http://www.ustr.gov/assets/Document_Library/Reports_Publications/2007/ >

Are lives a substitute for livelihoods? Terrorism, security, and U.S. bilateral imports. December 2007. Available online (PDF-Format, 45 pages, 1.21 MB). Policy Research Working Paper 4094. World Bank.
This publication analyzes the impact of terrorism on trade through higher security at the borders. The authors set up a theory which shows that the impact goes not only from terrorism to trade. Higher trade with a partner might, in turn, increase the probability of terrorism acts and make security measures more costly for total welfare. The authors show in particular how past incidents perpetrated in third countries (anywhere in the world except the origin or targeted country) constitute good exogenous factors for current security measures at the borders. Their tests suggest that terrorist incidents have a small effect on United States imports on average, but a much higher effect for those origin countries at the top of the distribution of incidents. In addition, the level of the impact is up to three times higher when the acts result in a relatively high number of victims, the products are sensitive to shipping time, and the size of the partner is small. The authors further show how terrorism affects the number of business visas given by the United States, thereby affecting significantly United States imports in differentiated products. These results suggest that security to prevent terrorism does matter for trade.
Accessed on 6 March
< http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/ >

CSR and trade: informing consumers about social and environmental conditions of globalized production. January 2007. Available online (PDF-Format, 69 pages, 608 KB). Trade Policy Working Paper No. 47 - PART I, Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Focusing on consumer demands in OECD markets and voluntary initiatives taken in the private sector, this study investigates how consumers are informed about the social and environmental conditions under which products have been produced. The paper identifies four major information strategies through which consumers obtain information: certification and labelling, corporate reporting, consumer guides and corporate marketing. It investigates the extent to which these strategies are used to inform consumers in four sectors with globally traded products, namely fisheries, cut flowers, cosmetic, and textiles and clothing.
Accessed on 6 March
< http://www.olis.oecd.org/olis/2006doc.nsf/43bb6130e5e86e5fc12569fa005d004c/ >

Global Risks 2007. A Global Risk Network Report. January 2007. Available online (PDF-Format, 34 pages, 1.41 MB). World Economic Forum.
The Global Risks 2007 report states that at the core of this year’s overview of risks to the global community over the next decade is a fundamental disconnect between risk and mitigation. It suggests that levels of risk are rising – but mechanisms in place to manage and mitigate risk at the level of businesses, Governments and global governance are inadequate. Global Risks 2007 suggests two possible institutional innovations: One is the idea of a Country Risk Officer – an analogy to Chief Risk Officers in the corporate world – intended as a focal point for managing a portfolio of risk across disparate interests, setting national prioritization of risk and allowing Governments to begin managing global risks rather than coping with them. The second is to create an avant-garde of relevant Governments and companies around different global risks, allowing risk mitigation to be a process of gradually-expanding alliances rather than a proposition requiring permanent consensus. Global Risks 2007 makes the case for the active engagement of all sections of the international community in dealing with global risks. No one group has the ability to effectively mitigate most global risks. Interdependency implies not just common vulnerability, but a shared responsibility to act.
Accessed on 6 March < http://www.weforum.org/pdf/CSI/Global_Risks_2007.pdf >

Managing the noodle bowl: the fragility of East Asian regionalism. February 2007. Available online (PDF-Format, 32 pages, 412 KB). Working Paper Series on Regional Economic Integration No. 7. ADB.
The paper argues that East Asian regionalism is fragile because (i) each nation’s industrial competitiveness depends on the smooth functioning of “Factory Asia”—in particular for intraregional trade; (ii) the unilateral tariff-cutting that created Factory Asia is not subject to WTO discipline (bindings); (iii) there is no “top-level management” to substitute for WTO discipline, to ensure that bilateral trade tensions do not spill over into region-wide problems due to lack of cooperation and communication. The paper argues that the window of opportunity for East Asian vision was missed; what East Asia needs now is management, not vision. East Asia should launch a “New East Asian Regional Management Effort” with a reinforced ASEAN+3 leading the way. The first priority should be to bind the region’s unilateral tariff cuts into the WTO.
Accessed on 12 March < http://aric.adb.org/pdf/workingpaper/WP07_Baldwin.pdf >

Policies, Enforcement, and Customs Evasion: Evidence from India. March 2007. Available online (PDF-Format, 41 pages, 433 KB). IMF Working Paper Series.
This paper examines the effect of tariff policies on evasion of customs duties, in the context of the trade reform in India of the 1990s. The authors exploit the variation in tariff rates across time and products to identify the evasion elasticity, namely, the effect of tariffs on evasion, and relate this elasticity to factors related to customs enforcement or the quality of customs institutions. They find a positive and robust effect of tariffs on import tax evasion. The authors then show that the evasion elasticity is influenced by certain product characteristics that determine how easy it is to detect evasion (with more differentiated products exhibiting a higher evasion elasticity). This evasion elasticity, which they broadly interpret as reflecting the quality of customs administration, has not improved over the 1990s. Finally, the results suggest that the effectiveness of customs in addressing evasion may be better in India than China, although China appears to be catching up over time.
Accessed on 20 March < http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2007/wp0760.pdf >

Remittances in the Pacific Region. February 2007. Available online (PDF-Format, 16 pages, 307 KB). Working Paper, International Monetary Fund (IMF).
This paper describes how remittances in the Pacific region are large and that they have grown substantially over the past decade. It argues that this primarily reflects the impact of emigration due to low growth and limited local employment prospects. Many Pacific emigrants settle abroad with their families for long periods, but maintain close links with their relatives, villages and churches. The paper finds that the altruistic motive for remittances remains much stronger in the Pacific region than in the rest of Asia, where investment considerations increasingly appear to predominate, especially for the large share of single citizens working abroad for limited periods.
Accessed on 6 March < http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2007/wp0735.pdf >

The ASEAN Experience: Insights for Regional Political Cooperation. February 2007. Available online (PDF-Format, 67 pages, 495 KB). South Centre.
This South Centre Analytical Note provides a background and discussion on the history of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional political cooperation and the insights it can provide to developing countries seeking to build greater integration in their region. Analysis focuses on the areas of security, energy, the environment, health issues, and cross-border movements of people.
Accessed on 6 March
< http://www.southcentre.org/publications/AnalyticalNotes/GlobalPoliticalGov/ >

http://www.alolafoundation.org/
Alola Foundation
E-mail: info@alolafoundation.org
The Alola Foundation was established in 2001 to raise awareness of and campaign against the sexual and gender-based violence experienced by women and young girls in Timor-Leste. In response to the needs identified by women of Timor-Leste, the Alola Foundation has grown to provide services and programs in areas such as advocacy, economic empowerment, education and maternal and child health. Alola has partnered with Oxfam to explore the marketing potential of women’s co-operatives. The Alola/Oxfam partnership also aims to promote East Timorese handicrafts internationally.

http://www.armport.com/
Armenian Business and Trade Portal
E-mail: info@armport.com
The Armenian Business and Trade Portal is a website for business and trade information. The website features market offers that can be made and viewed from both local and international stakeholders. Offers include trade leads for export or import, tenders, investment opportunities, privatization projects, offers of job skills, employment offers, offers of consulting services, and more. The portal also features the Knowledge Base - a virtual environment for information, analysis, problem solving and promoting innovative ideas. The purpose of the Knowledge Base is to provide comprehensive information with the main focus being put on business and economics. Last but not least, the page offers a forum, a chat room, a guestbook and useful links.

http://www.bascservice.org
Business Advisory Services Center (BASC), Bangladesh
E-mail: info@bascservice.org, basc@bangla.net
The Business Advisory Services Center was established as a component of the Industrial Promotion Project (IPP) to address the gaps in private sector-led growth of the industrial sector. Its mandated to improve the marketing, management and production efficiency of small enterprises by increasing the quality and accessibility of technical and management advisory services to small and medium-sized industries. The objectives of BASC are to facilitate business development services; establish itself as an effective and efficient Business Development Organization; provide business development services (BDS) to micro, small and medium enterprises in agriculture and industrial sectors covering manufacturing, service and trading organizations; generate sustainable income and productive employment opportunities for poverty alleviation and food security; and to promote ethical and socially responsible business.

http://www.moc.gov.kh/national_data_resource/Index.html
Cambodia National Resources Data Bank
The National Resources Databank of the Ministry of Commerce aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the resources that Cambodia is endowed with, including human resources, physical infrastructure resources, tourism infrastructure resources or demographic resources. The website is a result of an undertaking to digitize data on Cambodia into a user-friendly web-based format. More data will be added in future version but in the meantime users can find a large amount of information, particularly provincial data which is not easy to collect. The categories of information for the 24 included provinces are agriculture, business, country background, environment resources, Government, handicraft, industry resources, infrastructure, land resources, mine and energy, ODA resources, population and tourisms.

https://www.ippc.int/IPP/En/default.jsp
International Phytosanitary Portal (IPP)
The International Phytosanitary Portal is the official website for the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), an international treaty to secure action to prevent the spread and introduction of pests of plants and plant products, and to promote appropriate measures for their control. It is governed by the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM) which adopts International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPMs). The CPM has confirmed the IPP as the preferred forum for national IPPC reporting and the exchange of more general information among the phytosanitary community. The IPPC Secretariat coordinates the activities of the Convention and is hosted by FAO. The website hosts a wealth of information on the Convention and phytosanitary–related issues including standards, dispute settlement as well as country-based information.

http://www.cyberlawclinic.org
SEMCOM Cyberlaw Clinic, India
E-mail: principal@semcom.ac.in
The India-based English Medium College of Commerce and Management (SECOM) Cyberlaw Clinic is a non-profit academic legal service provider in the area of Internet-based transactions that aims to extend support to all the stake-holders rendering legal aid, advice, and counseling as well as to support policy makers by providing valuable inputs in the area of Internet-related issues. Its mission is to help the eCommunity to understand legal implications and to motivate for fair and just dealings in all the transactions whether for business or non-business, profit or non-profit, and at the same time, making efforts to generate awareness about this new legal dimension arising out of the virtual world. The website provides case studies, articles and links as well as information on the Indian IT Act 2000 and its amendments and more.

http://www.tuna-org.org/
Tuna-org
This website serves as an informal framework for sharing information from tuna Regional Fishery Management Organizations (RFMOs). Tuna RFMOs are intergovernmental organizations that carry out data collection, scientific monitoring and management of tuna and tuna-like resources. The five tuna RFMOs are the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna, the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission and the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission. The website serves as a Gateway to tuna fishery related information, including news, job announcements from various organizations, vessel lists, useful links and information and reports from meetings.

http://www.wcit.org/
Washington Council on International Trade (WCIT)
E-mail: wcitinfo@wcit.org
The Washington Council on International Trade is a private, non-profit, non-partisan association comprised of private sector businesses, public sector and Government representatives, acedemia, consular groups and individuals. The website offers information on topics such as poverty, corporate responsibility, and sustainability, globalization vs. localization, labor rights, etc. It is designed to serve as a portal to those issues as well as trade-related issues before Congress, and important information for workers, farmers, students, businesses, teachers and the public sector.

http://www.unwto.org/
World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
E-mail: omt@unwto.org
The World Tourism Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations in the field of tourism. It serves as a global forum for tourism policy issues and practical source of tourism know-how. UNWTO plays a central and decisive role in promoting the development of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism, with the aim of contributing to economic development, international understanding, peace, prosperity and universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms. In pursuing this aim, UNWTO pays particular attention to the interests of developing countries in the field of tourism.

Information is taken mainly from secondary sources and UNESCAP accepts no responsibility for its accuracy. Mention of any companies and their products does not imply endorsement by the United Nations.

The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.