According to EurasiaNet, Kyrgyz farmers are experiencing their worst nightmare since they are not able to sell their produce after Kazakhstan closed borders, and the unsold potatoes are rotting away and depriving them of money to buy food. Farmers are desperate to sell the potatoes even for a loss, and many believe the problems they are facing today are direct fallout of the ethnic violence that rocked the country two months ago.

A farmer said that the price per kilo potato has crashed by more than half from what it was last year. The potatoes are priced at 14 cents but are selling at 10 cents though they received more than 30 cents in 2009.

Furthermore, a new customs union connecting Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus is also seemed to be creating difficulty in getting goods across the borders. The Union is understood to have increased the tariffs by three times, making Kyrgyz products dearer in the new bloc’s markets.

The UN Development Program (UNDP) told that the only way to reboot the Kyrgyz economy was by making the borders open for trade, at least Uzbekistan. Kyrgyzstan, an impoverished Central Asian state hosting Russian and the US military air bases, expects the economy to shrink by 5 percent.

However, the World Food Program, the UN agency said it was preparing to bolster its operations in the country, where almost 350,000 more people might soon be in need of food. It also informed the threat stems from rising foods prices, a poor harvest, and the onset of winter.

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During the visit to the Portugal’s capital Lisbon, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu met with his Portuguese counterpart Luis Amado for the signing of the deal as well as to hold diplomatic talks. Davutoglu while signing the accord stated the bilateral trade between Turkey and Portugal had reached $826mn last year, and there was great prospect of improving from the current value.

Now the deal will go through a formal ratification process by both the countries’ parliaments. The effective date will be declared once the deal is approved by the respective houses.

The similar facilitation of the new deal has been a longstanding demand of Turkey with the EU as agreements signed by the EU and Turkey necessitate that Turks be exempted from visas. However, the EU’s recent nod to three Balkan states including Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro for visa-free travel to their nationals has heightened the Turkish demand for such relaxation is extended to its citizens too.

It should be recalled, last year, the European Court of Justice has issued a ruling paving the way for Turkish businesspeople providing services in the EU member states to enter the EU without having to obtain visas first under a 1973 deal called the Additional Protocol to the Ankara Agreement. While speaking at the occasion, the Portuguese Foreign Minister said that Portugal hoped the membership negotiations would be concluded as soon as possible.

At the sidelines of his official visit, the Turkish Foreign Minister also met up with the visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki to discuss bilateral co-operation and trilateral agreements on exchange of fuel for the Tehran research reactor. A tripartite agreement on the exchange of uranium was reached May 17 between Iran, Turkey and Brazil.

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While Rompuy visited Croatia, he told that the country would become the second state from the region to enter the EU after Slovenia’s inclusion in 2004. Croatia’s entry to the EU seemed to be likely soon as indicated in the words of the president, he said, “Croatia’s joining the EU will give a positive signal to the region by proving that the accession to the EU is attainable.”

Incidentally, Croatia’s EU accession negotiations started five years ago, and only after Rompuy assumed office in December 2009 they gained some steam. However, the Daily Delo, a leading Slovenian newspaper has questioned the president’s earnestness of the integration of the region to the EU zone.

On the contrary, while Rompuy visited Belgrade the Serbian President Boris Tadic expressed dissatisfaction with the decelerated process of the EU integration as he felt it was crucial for the future of the West Balkans. The Serbian business community has often complained about the problems they faced without the ticket to the EU despite they produced low cost quality goods.

Rompuy reiterated that progress in European integration primarily depended on each candidate’s own merit and performance. Nonetheless, it has to be seen whether the merit mantra would alone work as an expansion model to the EU as it may also rely on solving the ongoing financial crisis which quaked the EU after showing signs of recovery from the global meltdown.

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Both the US and Russia have military bases in Kyrgyzstan and a stake in the country’s stability. The Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, speaking to reporters after the recent G20 summit in Toronto, voiced concern that a parliamentary system would make Kyrgyzstan vulnerable to extremists.

But the unexpected criticism from Russia, Kyrgyzstan’s closest ally may make the whole process of referendum seem farcical. The two month period of a country, which witnessed a bloodless coup d’état usurping an autocratic ruler, the reinstatement of a new leader, the turbulence that followed and the eventual referendum all indicate Kyrgyzstan’s stability will continue to rely on the US-Russia ties.

Over the past two weeks, southern Kyrgyzstan has been plagued by ethnic clashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks. The violence have left about 2000 dead, and more than 400,000 Uzbeks were displaced and forced to flee from violent rampages to overcrowded refugee camps in Uzbekistan. The allegedly Russia sponsored coup d’état is believed to have set ablaze the volatile relations between the less fortunate Kyrgyz majority and the generally rich Uzbek minority.

The referendum is expected to usher in a parliamentary system of governance, making Kyrgyzstan the first of Central Asia’s former Soviet republics to shed a tradition of strong presidential rule. All of the other Central Asian states – Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – have presidential forms of government. Under the new referendum, parliamentary elections will be held in October this year.

As of now, Kyrgyzstan is in the middle of a tug of war between the US and Russia to take direct or quasi control over the Kyrgyzstan’s Manas international airport, the only prime location for transporting NATO soldiers and supplies to Afghanistan. As both parties have interests beyond strategic to prospecting trade opportunities in the country as well as the region, the camaraderie seen during the G20 meet between Obama and Medvedev only holds complete solution to the present crisis of Kyrgyzstan.

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Buchanan Renewables Power (BRP) began commercial operations in Liberia two years ago with a complete rejuvenation package for the non-producing rubber tree estates. The deal for the farmers includes $2 per tonne of tree trunks, free of cost re-plantation and for self-use or sale tree remnants which do not go into the production of wood chips.

Liberia is estimated to have more than 600,000ha of overgrown and moribund rubber farms. The new model of rubber re-plantation rids of farmers’ laborious task of re-claiming their estates by cutting down trees and re-planting them spending money without revenues for a long period. After planting, the trees take nearly seven years to start producing rubber.

Usually rubber trees need to be replaced once they are over 25 years old, and most of them in Liberia are between 30 and 60 years old. While helping farmers, the new project will also provide electricity to communities in the vicinity as well as has opened up exports to the woodchip markets of Europe.

BRP uses massive diggers to uproot trees and a giant mincer to produce rubber wood chips out of the trunks. The company has exported 45,000MT of chips last year with contracts of about 90,000MT for this year; and plans to clear 10,000ha annually.

The Buchanan claims that it has the capacity to produce 400,000 tonnes of woodchips per annum. Besides, on many farms, it has been able to plant two trees for every one that has been harvested.

For Liberia it means that many of its citizens will be re-injected to the market with jobs and businesses, a dire need of the country that promises opportunities and improved living standards after the end of seven years of civil war. BRP says its vision is to achieve success in Liberia and repeat this model in other countries in Africa and, to the extent possible, worldwide.

The firm which emphasizes on cheap, environment-friendly and sustainable energy production with a social commitment to Liberia is putting back some of its revenues for power generation using the locally sourced wood chips. However, the proposed 35MW power generation plant at Monrovia which is supposed to provide electricity for half the price has not been installed yet even two years after its approval.

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The world body should lay emphasis on reducing the growing divide between the rich and the poor rather than pushing for trade to please some of the business powerhouses. If increasing world trade through global action means prosperity for all, the WTO has to address problems of the workforces that comprise of about 70 percent excluding self employed involved directly or indirectly in global trade.

It has to press for regulations which will bring in all workforces under one umbrella of organized sector as majority, particularly in developing countries are forced to work incognito. The workers of unorganized sector are deprived of employment protection such as paid leave, sick leave, healthcare and other perks; and are almost enslaved by their employers.

Similarly, even workers of organized sector are exploited by overloading with work schedules that may go up to 20hrs per day without any rest or extra allowance. Especially the workforces from countries without minimum hourly wages have been largely put to this hardship by calibrating it as a day’s work.

At a glance, it may seem like how on earth the strengthening of organized sector of workforce will improve the living standards of the poor and marginalized workers without developing other key areas such as free right to education, healthcare and other civic amenities. But by elevating the dignity of workers by providing reasonable earnings for what they work is likely to boost their confidence, and thereby prod themselves to meet all immediate needs without any administrative influence.

As far as trade is concerned, the atrocities perpetrated on workforces should also be given equal care like that of other aspects of trade agreements to avoid social unrests stemming from socio-economic asymmetries. The absence of minimum wages for workers or potentially running unorganized workforces, perhaps even with the backing of governments, should be given serious re-look as it is implied in individual trade deals as grievous human rights violations.

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Mary Lascelles Relocation Director at Moving Links 4 You commented “My son recently went to Kashmir, India where he spent three months working on a project. So many folks advised against it as it was an unsafe place, and the newspapers certainly lead us to believe it was nuts for going. He has now returned and he said he never felt unsafe while there. Goes to show that a lot of times fear is instilled by media hype. Still, it’s important to use your intuition – while still living life and not shutting out important experiences.”

Barbara Holtzman, Executive Consultant & Management Coach said she would follow her intuition and did not avoid any place based on an alert alone, and also endorsed Lascelles’ view. While Sally Shiff Social Network Coordinator at Maoz Inc. opined “I live in the Middle East (Israel) and have learned to be aware of safety. What we don’t have here is the theft and harm that I used to see on the streets in the US or as a traveler abroad.” She later added that the places which were unsafe to travel were often found barricaded, and was glad rather to comply with such warnings.

However, some participants in the poll are of the opinion that it would be unwise to overlook these advisories. Similarly, those in the travel and transport industry are also found to be paying attention to the alerts as they feared it would hurt their businesses.

The poll clarification on as to why ask this question read – It is observed that advisories are used these days as foreign policy. Instead of pinpointing the terror strike areas, and helping those countries to nab the perpetrators before the event, most governments just release a terror alert to put that country/ies and administration/s in all kinds of trouble.

The recent terror advisories issued by the US, Britain, Australia and Canada on the Indian capital has forced the government to turn New Delhi into a fortress with heavy deployment of security forces and also increased security checks. Furthermore, some analysts believe operatives under the guise of crank callers could be involved in hoax calls (the recent series of anonymous calls about bombs being planted at various locations in New Delhi) to destabilize day to day business of the city.

It should be recalled that in February the Home Minister of India P Chidambaram had said about a US advisory then “I don’t think it was based on any new information nor do I think that it was intended to send any alarm signal. I think it was a routine advisory and it should be seen as such.”

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In 2007, Bush administration began negotiations on ACTA particularly to contain several developing countries engaged in piracy acts, and to protect the interests of leading US firms which lost their price competitiveness on account of counterfeiting. Incidentally, the ACTA effect will not be restricted to internet activities alone but extends to counterfeit pharmaceuticals, designer merchandise, music, movies, etc.

Surprisingly, the final draft will not have the endorsement of China, one of the largest counterfeit producers. Hence, looking back to past events on taking action against China in regards to infringements, the trade pact is expected to encounter similar stalemate while implementing a likely ratified deal. Participants in the negotiations included Australia, Canada, the European Union, represented by the European Commission, the European Union Presidency (Spain) and EU Member States, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and the US.

Many ACTA dissidents blame the secretive or undemocratic nature of reaching the agreement by not revealing the details for public discussion. On the other hand, WIPO provides scope for public scrutiny with an added advantage of the inclusion of major counterfeiting countries in negotiations.

Meanwhile, the tech firms are understood to be apprehensive about ACTA’s secondary liability clause, which recommends the responsibility of copyright infringement behaviour of the user on the online service provider. The clause will possibly affect social networking sites, video-sharing sites and several other user-generated content sites including the online encyclopaedia, Wikipedia.

Last month, a statement signed by senior trade-union officials from New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and the US raised the question of intellectual property rights becoming an element in the free-trade negotiations. However that fear is put to rest by officials at the eighth round of ACTA negotiations calling the deal as a ‘standalone’ one, and would not tinker with FTAs.

According to sources, the draft will leave out three-strikes provision that would require border agents to search the contents of electronic devices. Experts term three-strikes a preposterous idea as it would virtually bring every transit cell to a standstill.

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As per the latest updates on volcano, many of Europe’s busiest airline routes will remain closed until Saturday. Furthermore, if one goes by the volcanologists warnings, the eruptions could continue on-and-off for months, potentially meaning continued delays and closures. It is estimated just three days of air traffic closure alone will take months for the aviation industry to recover from the mammoth losses.

The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation or CAPA figures show that some six million passengers could be affected world-wide if the closures continued for up to three days. The volcanic clouds spewed above 30,000 feet have forced air travel virtually impossible as the jet engines could be shut down if they sucked in volcanic debris.

High-flying volcanic ash consists of extremely fine silica particulates that could easily enter jet engines, which operate at temperatures of about 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit. Silica melts at about 2,000 degrees, and at that point it fuses to turbine blades, nozzles and other critical engine parts, causing the engine to clog, overheat and eventually shut down.

It is now evident that the losses to the aviation industry and auxiliary ones would run into billions of dollars. London’s Heathrow Airport, which is the worst affected due to the second Iceland’s volcanic eruption, itself clearly supports to that logic since one of the world’s busiest airport manages more than 1,200 flights and 180,000 travelers per day. And any delay to the resumption of air travel and cargo movement is bound to create grievous financial problems to the industry which is showing some signs of revival along with global trade after the meltdown.

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Nevertheless, both Smith and NZ Prime Minister John Key, at different occasions reiterated that the ETS would take effect on the energy and transport sectors in July despite calls from business groups, farmers and Act, an agro-friendly and anti-ETS organization. The business groups fear NZ firms bearing the cost of the domestic ETS will be competitively disadvantaged compared with rivals from countries with no effective carbon pricing mechanism, a view that is shared by the Federated Farmers and Act.

According to latest reports, apart from the Federated Farmers and Act and nine other business groups including Major Electricity Users’ Group, the Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA) has also joined the side in exerting pressure on the government to delay international commitment on carbon reduction. The EMA chief executive Alasdair Thompson said “Our financial situation is far too fragile to absorb the extra $255mn the government calculates the ETS will cost all of us.”

Though Smith claims an average NZ family could expect a meagre 165 NZ dollars (US$116) annual increase in expenses from July, it is estimated, particularly since the ETS would be covering transport and energy, the annual family expenditure would be manifold than his assumption. The ETS would be introduced in come July on the energy, transport and industrial sectors with a 50 percent obligation.

The NZ ETS legislation allows for a formal review of the scheme in 2011 along with an increase in obligations from Jan 1, 2013. The ETS is effective on forestry from 2008; and agriculture, which makes up the half of NZ’s emissions, will be included in the scheme in 2015. Some of the major reasons for growing opposition in NZ against the ETS are cited as the absence of consensus among many nations on paucity of time on implementation, trade disadvantages, cost escalation on essentials and stringent NZ ETS norms on all sectors.

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According to a Business Line report, the mission, led by Mr Marten van den Berg, Deputy Director-General for Foreign Economic Relations, brings 40 delegates from 27 companies, and will cover New Delhi, Chennai, Pune and Mumbai. Although majority of the group comprised of heads from the agro and automotive industries, the mission will also be exploring trade opportunities in areas such as, the life sciences and health, logistics and infrastructure, IT, tele-communications and innovative other sectors.

Last week, the Netherlands Ambassador to India Bob Hiensch has said that his country was eyeing greater bilateral trade between the two countries in coming years. He added that the Netherlands was hoping bilateral trade to reach €10bn by 2014.

Currently exports from India are valued at about €2.5bn and imports stood around €1.6bn. India and the Netherlands began their trading alliance since more than 400 years ago when the Dutch trading ships visited South and East coasts of India in search of spices and textiles.

The Holland delegation is mainly visiting India to showcase its prowess in various spheres including IT, agro-tech and water management systems to attract Indian companies whom desirous of entering the European market. It should be recalled that last month, Oedith Jaharia of the Netherlands India Chamber of Commerce and Trade told Radio Netherlands Worldwide that 25 percent of India’s fruits and vegetables were wasted in the absence of viable food processing technology. He suggested that India could use the Netherlands expertise in food processing to avoid such colossal waste.

The present economic outlook of the Netherlands is very attractive since the country is able to weather the recent global meltdown by bringing in foreign investments more than €3bn or about 30 percent of its GNP in 2009. Ms Jolanda van der Aart, who runs the India Desk at the Amsterdam Foreign Investment Office told Business Line that information, communication and technology was one of the five largest export revenue earner for the Netherlands, and has been growing at 4-5 percent every year, and this offered the Indian firms a huge opportunity by way of outsourcing and export and import of computer parts and systems.

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It has been reported that a large number of torture instruments including fixed wall restraints, metal ‘thumb cuffs’, and electroshock ‘sleeves’ and ‘cuffs’ which could deliver 50,000V shocks were widely traded with the tacit or explicit backing from some governments of the EU. Furthermore, these commercial exchanges have violated the 2006 Act of a global ban on the international trade of policing and security equipment designed for torture and ill-treatment.

According to the Amnesty International’s press release, the organization along with its research partner would be informing the EU administration to insulate legislative loopholes highlighted in the report, and the EU member states to adequately implement and enforce the regulation. Amnesty International’s UK arms program director Oliver Sprague lambasted the EU for condoning the sales of inhumane torture equipment, and also for using double standards in trade deals.

Interestingly, the accomplices in this illegal trade have flouted with impunity the Regulation that has been introduced after a decade of campaigning by human rights organizations. Nicolas Beger, Director of Amnesty International’s EU office blamed the EU for the failure of proper implementation or enforcement of the four year old legislation.

As per the report, between 2006 and 2009, the Czech Republic issued export licenses covering shackles, electric shock weapons and chemical sprays to six countries where police and security forces had a history of using such equipment for torture and other ill-treatment. Likewise, Germany issued similar licenses to three such countries for exports of foot-chains and chemical sprays.

Besides, law enforcement equipment suppliers in Italy and Spain are found to have encouraged the sale 50,000V electric shock ‘cuffs’ or ‘sleeves’ for use on prisoners by exploiting a legal loophole. In 2005 one of the EU member states, Hungary declared its intention to introduce electric ‘stun belts’ into its own prisons and police stations, despite a trade ban on such belts which inherently constituted torture or ill-treatment.

Surprisingly, five EU member states have expressed that they were unaware of any producers (Belgium, Cyprus, Italy, Finland and Malta) or exporters (Belgium, Cyprus, Italy) of equipment covered under the Regulation. However, it is interesting to note that companies from three of these five countries (Finland, Italy and Belgium) have stated openly in media interviews or on their websites that they supplied items which were covered by the Regulation, often manufactured in third countries.

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The CTTC is the representative body for Independent coach operators of Ireland which provides first class passenger transport to domestic and overseas visitors. Likewise, Mullins is one of the key figures who lobbies for change in national and the EU transportation policy.

As per current Irish visa regulations, a visa aspirant should provide documents including six months of bank statements, a letter from one’s employer or educational institution stating one would return, and a letter from one’s host. Mullins argues “Can you imagine booking a room in a Dublin hotel, and then asking the receptionist if the hotel would forward a letter saying they will support you during your visit?”

The CTTC chief criticized that “effectively, we tell them to go away, and spend their money in some other country.” During his tirade he felt the restrictions would not have made a difference in the past because many from the emerging tourist markets could not have afforded any such visits then. But he informed Ireland had not woken up to the reality that people from China and prospective new markets were travelling by their millions and becoming richer than them.

It has been noticed that business has significantly reduced owing to recession in Ireland’s traditional tourism markets such as the EU, the UK and the US. The Irish tourism industry feels there should be relaxation on visa norms at least to potential new markets to boost the economy. Incidentally, nationalities of 88 countries do not need a visa to travel to Ireland.

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As per the survey, Indian naans and bagels, the New York favourite have also made notable growth by 13 percent and 11 percent respectively. Andy Simpson, Tesco’s bakery spokesman said “While croissants have been commonplace across the UK since the 1980s, it’s naan bread, chapattis, bagels and more recently tortillas that have now established themselves as popular snack alternatives to the traditional sandwich.

Simpson further added that there were so many bread varieties from all around the world now available in the UK and these were drawing sales from traditional loaves, rolls and baps which had reigned supreme in bakeries for hundreds of years. His words are corroborated by the fact that even kuboos, the most preferred bread variety of the Middle East is available in many of the stores in the UK regularly. Besides, the multicultural demographics and consumers’ attitude to experiment with new snacks have also led to the slide in the traditional British food stuff.

The state of the art commercially viable technology present now to produce many oriental bites is also believed to be another reason for them to breach the 250 year old strongly held fortress of traditional British bread basket. Until recently, large scale production of many Indian food items including chapattis and naans were not possible, but today instead of employing manual hours, such production processes are done by machines with relatively less time in making higher quantity.

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In 2004, based on a complaint from Australia, Brazil and Thailand, which argued the EU was dumping its excess sugar into the global market, the WTO enforced a ceiling of 1.374mn tonnes on the EU sugar exports. Then, the WTO’s directive was in line with the world sugar prices which was comparatively far lower than the EU prices. Last month, Brussels had rejected beet growers’ demands to allow more of Europe’s sugar surplus onto the global market.

According to Agrimoney, a website that informs on the agriculture markets, Mariann Fischer Boel, the EU agriculture commissioner has received legal advice on whether, “in these exceptional circumstances”, the region can breach its export limit. Ms Boel told a meeting of European farm ministers this week that she was likely to announce a decision on surplus sugar exports by this month end.

As the sugar producers in France and Germany, Europe’s top producers, reaped the biggest harvest since 2006 are reported to be in favour of surplus export. The CIBE in its latest press release stated while the world was crying for sugar, it was inexplicable why the sector was not allowed to obtain licenses to export more sugar now.

The EU sugar growers argue that since the world sugar prices are high the EU sugar injection to world market would not tantamount to dumping. They also feel the availability of sugar to the global market will remove shortage, help farmers an opportunity to earn more and provide consumers to get sugar at a lower cost.

Severe shortage and price spiraling of sugar has already created serious problems to consumers as well as the ruling party in India, the largest sugar consumer. The price of sugar in India has more than doubled in a period of 12 months.

There are clear indicators that in the coming quarters, several countries will line up for more sugar by increasing their import limits. An estimate from Moscow analysis group, Ikar that Russia will raise imports of raw sugar by 66 percent to 2.45 tonnes in 2010, and Pakistan for 50,000 tonnes of white sugar.

World sugar production is short of demand by over 14mn tonnes this year primarily due to vagaries of weather in Brazil and India, the largest sugar producers. Furthermore, the price of refined sugar is expected to reach a 20-year high of 30 cents per pound on the commodity market.

This year, India faced shortage after several years of excess sugar production due to monsoon failure and growers moving on to other crops. On the contrary, Brazil failed to produce enough owing to excess rain and increase in ethanol use.

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By fulfilling the stringent SPS norms of the EU are likely to give a fillip to Mexico’s exports, and make it one of the few countries which satisfy the new standardization process. The traceability protocol reveals all the stages and processes by which primary products are processed, precisely as demanded by the markets that conform to the EU. According to a recent WTO proposal, the SPS certification is understood to become a basic criterion for all future shipments of seafood and agricultural products to be accepted by most countries.

Under SPS, SENASICA need to protect the plant, fish, and animal resources in the country from pests and diseases through actions of surveillance, inspection and certification. Besides, it should ensure food safety by implementing the practice of producing and consuming food free from contamination at every level of production, industrialization and commercialization.

The head of SENASICA, Enrique Sanchez Cruz underscored the work carried out within the protocol of understanding to activate the harmonization of SPS between Mexico and countries that integrate to the EU. He said this after the finalization of the Facilitation Project of the Mexico and European Union Free Trade Treaty (PROTLCUEM) meet.

The EU recognition will largely benefit shrimp exports of Mexico as it is one of the major seafood which is in high demand among the EU member-states. The agreements reached within the framework of the FTA between Mexico and the EU is believed to enhance the sales of tuna, shrimp and bivalve molluscs to the union’s market.

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The new FTA is expected to largely benefit the Canadian producers and exporters as the duties of all Canadian non-agricultural merchandise exports are eliminated thus making it more competitive in those markets. Tariffs will also be removed or reduced on selected Canadian agricultural exports such as durum wheat, frozen french fries, beer and crude canola oil.

Now Canada will have access to state of the art technologies and other knowhow from the sophisticated EFTA markets at lower costs that includes the importation of machinery and scientific and precision instruments. Besides, the new deal is likely to attract other European countries as well in reaching similar trade ties and thereby increase the visibility of the Canadian business entities over there.

The EFTA was the seventh-largest export destination of Canada last year. The two-way trade between both parties reached $13.2bn in 2008 with Canada exporting goods worth $4.2bn. In 2007, the two-way trade was valued at about $12.9bn with the Canadian exports and imports reaching at about $5.2bn and about $7.7bn respectively.

According to the deal, there will be significant cuts in tariffs of merchandise from both sides, but Canada’s tariffs on sensitive shipbuilding products will stay. They have decided to waive these tariffs in phases over a period of 15 years with regard to the sensitivity of each product.

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A draft of the declaration by the EU stated the bloc was likely to extend sanctions for another 12 months that includes a travel ban on top political officials, an arms embargo and a freeze on Myanmar assets in Europe. The EU has been demanding the release of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi who is in house arrest and all other 2000-odd political prisoners. The EU also wants the Myanmar administration to take immediate steps to ensure the planned general elections in next year to be free and fair with strict adherence to international democratic standards, and in the presence of neutral observers.

Nevertheless, the EU has indicated that it was ready to respond to any genuine progress and may wait until the next month’s talks with the Myanmar rulers before extending the dates of sanctions for another one year. The EU and the US officials have acknowledged the fact the sanctions had no or little effect so far, and have no hopes that things would change in a month’s time.

The sanctions are clamped after the Burmese military rulers blatantly violated human right norms to suppress the pro-democratic movement in 2006. The country is under military rule since 1962, and the current junta came to power in 1988 after devastating a similar pro-democratic uprising.

The EU draft has raised serious concerns over the plight of the ethnic minorities of Myanmar who have no rights even for citizenship of their own country. Many human rights organizations are understood to have flayed the junta for marginalizing especially close to a million Muslim Rohingya minorities with forced labour, land seizures and rape.

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