Briefs	E-mail PagePrint Version

BAHRAIN, US LAY FTA GROUNDWORK

MANAMA - The US trade representative held discussions Thursday with Bahrain's king to lay the ground work for the tiny Gulf ally to negotiate free trade with the US. Last month the White House said it would pursue a free trade pact with Bahrain, the first such effort since President Bush proposed a free trade zone in the Middle East. Bahrain is the home of the US Navy's 5th Fleet, which was deployed in the Iraq war, and a leading financial center in the Middle East. "We consider Bahrain a good friend ... and we want to help them succeed," US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick told reporters after his talks with Bahrain's king, Sheik Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, and government officials. "I am quite positive we can move ahead very quickly" with the negotiations for a Bahrain-US free trade pact, Zoellick added. Formal talks on the trade pact are waiting for approval by the US Congress. In May, President Bush offered to extend US free-trade benefits, already enjoyed by Israel and Jordan, to other Middle East nations within a decade. The proposal is an effort to link US support for expanding economic opportunity in the Arab world with the drive to settle the Israeli-Palestinian dispute and, it is hoped, nudge along the elusive Mideast peace process. Zoellick said that trade liberalization and increased economic integration would "generate growth, create opportunity and promote security throughout the Middle East." Zoellick praised Bahrain's efforts to liberalize sectors such as banking, insurance and  telecommunications.

US, SPAIN SIGN TECHNOLOGY EXCHANGE AGREEMENT

MIAMI - The US and Spain intend to initiate an "ongoing program of cooperation and information exchange on the science and technology of transportation," according to the US Department of Transportation (DOT). The Memorandum of Intent was signed at the conclusion of the recent two-day US -Spain Forum on Construction Technology in Miami, Florida. Officials from several DOT operating administrations and their Spanish counterparts met during the event to discuss design, construction, and operation of highways, tunnels, airports, air traffic control systems, high-speed rail, port infrastructure, and mass transit. Topics covered during the two-day forum will be further explored in upcoming exchanges between representatives of the two countries. The Miami forum carried forward the work of previous US-Spain forums on transportation and housing held in November, 2002, in Washington and last February in Madrid and Toledo, Spain.

US CURRENT ACCOUNT GROWS SLIGHTLY

WASHINGTON, DC - The deficit in the US current account -- the broadest measure of US transactions with the rest of the world - went up slightly in January-March with the widening US trade deficit in merchandise goods accounting for about half the increase. According to the Commerce Department, the US surplus in services trade decreased, US unilateral transfers to foreign countries including foreign aid increased, and the US surplus in income from cross-border investments decreased.  The current account deficit was estimated at a seasonally adjusted $136.3 million, up from a revised $128.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2002. Imports of goods went up more in the first quarter than exports of goods did with petroleum imports accounting for three-quarters of the increase. Services revenue decreased with big drops in travel and passenger fares, "reflecting concerns about the war in Iraq and the SARS virus," the Department said. Changes in the capital and financial accounts reflect changes in the current account. In the first quarter net acquisitions of assets in the US by foreigners exceeded US residents' acquisitions of foreign assets by $112.8 million, down from an excess of $152.5 million in the fourth quarter, the report said. US-owned assets abroad went up $76 million in the first quarter, compared with an increase of $45 million in the fourth, with net US purchases of foreign stocks and US bank loans to foreigners up sharply. Foreign-owned assets in the US went up $188.6 million in he first quarter, compared with an increase of $197.4 million in he fourth. Foreigners sold off more US stocks and federally sponsored agency bonds than they bought in the first quarter. They increased their net purchases of US corporate bonds and US Treasury bonds. The US dollar depreciated 5% on a trade-weighted basis against a group of seven major currencies in the first quarter, the Department said.

NEW CHINA, WTO DATABASE UNVEILED

WASHINGTON, DC - The General Accounting Office (GAO) recently issued a letter to members of Congress and executive branch agencies to introduce a new electronic database on the major components of China's World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments. China's December 2001 accession to the WTO, the GAO letter says, means that the country "will have to undertake numerous actions over the next 10 years, ranging from reducing or eliminating tariffs to improving the transparency of trade-related rules and regulations." China's accession agreement "is a set of legal documents totaling more than 800 pages," the letter notes.  "The flexibility and comprehensiveness of the (GAO) database can enable users to quickly and more efficiently analyze China's commitments," it continues. The database is available to the public free of charge to assist "interested parties in analyzing, monitoring, and enforcing China's WTO commitments," the GAO said. Copies of the GAO letter and access to the database are available on the GAO Web site at: http://www.gao.gov.

Go back, or read the latest briefs:

TRADE

empty