APR News

As a follow-up to 4th National Standards Conclave, Commerce & Industry Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman took review meeting of all the relevant ministries, regulators and organizations today. The purpose of the meeting was to address the regulatory deficit in various product categories in the country. The Minister reviewed participation of experts in international setting bodies and their contribution in appropriate standards setting in the sectors that are important/relevant to India.

On the occasion of the 11th ‘Statistics Day’ celebration on 29th June 2017 to mark the birth anniversary of late Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, the Father of Indian Statistics the “MIS Report on Export promotion Schemes 2017” of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) was released.
The Report is an initiative taken by Statistics Division of DGFT as part of the monitoring and evaluation of the Foreign Trade Policy (2015-20). The publication contains up-to-date information on key parameters under various export promotion schemes in the form of data tables, visual displays and data analysis. It provides All India, Zone-wise and Regional Authority wise information on Import Export Codes (IECs) issued, Authorisations/Scrips issued and their CIF and FOB values under various export promotion schemes for the period 2014-15 to 2016-17.

Morocco is keen to pursue closer ties with ASEAN, said the new Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco to ASEAN Ouadia Benabdellah. He conveyed this message during the presentation of his Letter of Credence to Secretary-General of ASEAN Le Luong Minh at the ASEAN Secretariat on June 14, 2017.
Secretary-General Minh highlighted the importance of Morocco’s accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia which served as an important gesture to further promote friendly and cooperative relations between ASEAN and Morocco. Secretary-General Minh also appreciated Morocco’s interest in establishing formal partnership with ASEAN.

The inaugural issue of the ASEAN Economic Integration Brief (AEIB) was released on 30 June 2017. The AEIB provides regular updates on ASEAN economic integration progress and outcomes. The launch of the AEIB demonstrates ASEAN’s continued communication and outreach efforts to raise stakeholder awareness of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).

The Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) and the Government of the Hellenic Republic signed the Joint Declaration on Cooperation in Moscow on 24 June 2017.
On behalf of the EEC, the document was signed by the Member of the Board — Minister in charge of Integration and Macroeconomics, Tatyana Valovaya. On behalf of the Greek Government it was signed by the Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs, Georgios Katrougalos.
The Joint Declaration became the first document institutionalizing the cooperation between the EEC and the government of a EU member state. The document was elaborated after the negotiations between the EEC Chairman, Tigran Sargsyan, and the Greek Government held in January 2017.
The Declaration provides for cooperation on a broad economic agenda, taking into account the competences of the EEC and the obligations of Greece arising from the law of the European Union. In particular, the EEC and the Government of the Hellenic Republic intend to exchange experience and information in such areas as technical regulation, application of sanitary, veterinary & sanitary, and quarantine phytosanitary measures, public procurement, financial markets, intellectual property, trade policy, competition policy and antitrust regulation, etc.

As technology becomes integrated throughout all corners of the economy, the importance of skilled labor in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) has increased over time. However, there is still a significant gender gap in these fields that needs to be addressed within APEC’s 21 member economies.
“We know from the data that there is an under-representation of women in STEM fields – not only as students and researchers, but also as managers, leaders and entrepreneurs – which significantly hinders sustainable economic growth and prosperity throughout the region,” said Ann Katsiak, ‎Chief of Party for US-APEC Technical Assistance to Advance Regional Integration.
APEC’s Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy aims to narrow this gender gap and facilitate women in STEM by implementing a framework it designed that addresses barriers for women to excel in this field.

Trade officials from APEC member economies and the USD1.3 trillion fashion industry have sewn a new partnership to make it easier for up and coming designers in the Asia-Pacific to build their brands and trade internationally.
Under the arrangement, officials, together with fashion designers and industry groups, have commenced work to reduce cross-border business barriers and better position designers to integrate into production and supply chains that can enable them to “go global.”
They are focused on advancing policies in APEC economies to support these goals based on public-private sector information sharing and the findings of companion research by the Chinese University of Hong Kong—host of the APEC Study Centre in Hong Kong, China.

A Regional Workshop on Review of the Network of East Asian Think-Tanks (NEAT) and East Asia Forum (EAF) was held in Siem Reap, Cambodia on June 21-22, 2017. The workshop was graced by Kan Pharidh, Under-Secretary of State of Cambodia.

The Supervisory Board of the Financial & Banking Association of the Euro-Asian Cooperation (FBA EAC) supported the proposal of the Presidium of the Business Council of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) on establishment of the Eurasian electronic commodity exchange of the Silk Road. The Association is ready to put forward an initiative for the implementation of this project based on the Universal Commodity Exchange Eurasian cooperation (UCE EC). This was stated by the Member of the Board - Minister in charge of Economy and Financial Policy of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), Timur Zhaksylykov, which first held a session of the Supervisory Board as its Chairman.

Development of interaction between Single Window mechanisms in the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) was discussed at the international seminar held in Kyrgyzstan from 31 May to 1 June 2017.
The event was initiated by the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).
In his welcoming speech, the Member of the Board - Minister in charge of Customs Cooperation of the EEC, Mukai Kadyrkulov, commented briefly on the stages of creating the Single Window carried out by the EAEU countries.