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Thoughts on trade, investment and development from the ARTNeT community

To share your thoughts on particular issues on trade, investment and development, or to respond to any of the posts below, send an email to [email protected].


BRICS Expansion: Is it not too early!

BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) is indeed a relatively young organization, established in 2009. BRICS Countries Grouping evolved from an idea in 2001 by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill, who proposed it merely on the basis of economic prospects these countries have in the evolving and shifting global economic order. Its primary objective has been on economic cooperation, development, and promoting multilateralism.

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THE UNDERAPPRECIATED BENEFITS OF MULTILATERAL RULES-BASED TRADE

Multilateral rules-based trade, championed by the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), refers to the system where international trade is conducted according to agreed-upon transparent, non-discriminatory and impartial rules, negotiated by all its members, rather than being subject to the whims of individual governments.

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Improve railway logistics to ease trade in the Bay of Bengal region

While railway is considered an economical and efficient mode of transportation, cross-border railway connectivity in the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) region is constrained by varying track gauges, among other factors.

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Cambodia getting ready to enhance its presence in GVCs

Cambodia’s investment law that was put in place for the first time in 1994 consisting of 9 chapters was amended in 2003 to revise a number of articles (RGC, 1994 and 2003). The 2003 Amended Law on Investment was an important step, among others, with regard to the investment approval scheme by adopting the automatic approval system of the investment projects which must be completed within 31 working days after the investment project was filed to be considered for approval (RGC, 2003, Article 7 New).

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Fostering Global Cooperation*

Abstract: This piece will start with the crisis in the global trading system in 2022, as precipitated by the trade war between the US and China, and impasse on WTO reform, and the paralysis of the dispute settlement system.  It will then describe the best-case scenario for 2030, focusing mainly on global trade cooperation centred around the WTO, but also mentioning the cooperation in two related areas, i.e., climate change and data governance.

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Post-webinar chat with myself

I am a ‘boomer’ so I still make New Year’s resolutions (well, sort of). This year I decided that I will take better records of my engagements in various online events so that I am able to share some of my thoughts through the ARTNeT E-forum which was created for more informal sharing of ideas linked to sustainable development and trade.
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