The US and Morocco kicked off a year of trade negotiations in Geneva today, as the George W. Bush administration looks beyond the war in Iraq to build stability in Muslim countries through improved economic ties.
AOL Time Warner Inc, Merck & Co, 3M Co and other US companies have joined to press for the free trade accord, which would be only the second with a Muslim country, saying it will open the way for them to fight movie piracy and expand investment.
Negotiators moved the talks to Geneva from Rabat, the Moroccan capital, because of the war. Only 6 percent of Moroccans have a positive view of the US, according to a Brookings Institution poll published this month. Officials say that won't stand in the way of an agreement.
"If people are upset, they are upset with the war only," said Mohammed Ariad, counsel for economic affairs at the Moroccan Embassy in Washington. "They won't be looking for some excuses to be against" the trade agreement.
US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick has said that opening trade with Morocco's US$34 billion economy is one step in a process of promoting economic growth and lessening the attraction of Islamic extremism across the region.
The World Bank expects annual economic growth in the Middle East to average 1.3 percent per capita during the decade, the slowest rate of any region. Half the 300 million citizens are younger than 24. One person in five is unemployed -- and the workforce is the fastest growing in the world.
The Muslim world's share of global trade and investment has sunk to less than a quarter its level of two decades ago, as nations kept some of the highest trade barriers in the world and failed to develop industries other than oil and gas, according to the World Bank. US sanctions have also curbed trade with three of the largest regional economies: Iran, Libya and Iraq.
"The Middle East has become more and more marginalized," said Edward Gresser, a former US trade official who wrote a report on trade and the region for the Progressive Policy Institute, a research arm for pro-trade Democrats.
"It's basically the fault of the countries, but we're suffering the consequences," as the faltering regional economies have left young, unemployed men susceptible to the call of terrorists, he said.
Morocco has already taken steps to open trade and modernize its economy. The North African country, while still dependent on agriculture and tourism, has seen GDP expand 50 percent faster than the rest of the region over the past 20 years, after cutting tariffs and selling state-owned enterprises, according to the World Bank.
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
NEGOTIATIONS: The US response to the countermeasures and plans Taiwan presented has been positive, including boosting procurement and investment, the president said Taiwan is included in the first group for trade negotiations with the US, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, as he seeks to shield Taiwanese exporters from a 32 percent tariff. In Washington, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in an interview on Fox News on Thursday that he would speak to his Taiwanese and Israeli counterparts yesterday about tariffs after holding a long discussion with the Vietnamese earlier. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday postponed punishing levies on multiple trade partners, including Taiwan, for three months after trillions of US dollars were wiped off global markets. He has maintained a 10 percent
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
RSS