As áreas de livre comércio – ALC – são zonas de benefícios tributários cujo principal objetivo é a promoção do desenvolvimento de regiões mais carentes. A área de livre comércio de Boa Vista, juntamente com a de Bonfim, foi a última a ser implantada, no ano de 2008, e seus impactos são analisados por meio de questionário aplicado a empresas de Boa Vista, com o objetivo de compreender seu grau de satisfação, os entraves e perspectivas da ALC-BV. Para tanto, foram entrevistadas 53 empresas, que representam 3,22% do universo de empresas de Boa Vista cadastradas e habilitadas na SUFRAMA, situação necessária para que as empresas tenham acesso aos benefícios da ALC. A análise da amostra apresenta que 69,81% dos entrevistados afirmam ter benefícios da ALC para sua empresa. Desses, a avaliação acerca dos incentivos mais significativos para a empresa, em ordem decrescente foi: PIS/COFINS, ICMS, IPI e Imposto de Importação. Dentre os principais entraves, os entrevistados destacaram: poucos incentivos da prefeitura e do governo; custo de transporte elevado; escassez de mão de obra especializada; ausência de porto alfandegado, dificuldade de desembaraço da fronteira com o estado do Amazonas, dentre outros. Acerca do grau de satisfação, a maioria indicou Média Satisfação (39,62%). Apesar disso, uma quantidade significativa dos entrevistados (28,30%) afirmou não ter obtido qualquer redução de preços dos produtos adquiridos. A resposta seguinte mais selecionada foi a de que os preços dos produtos adquiridos reduziram de 10,01 a 15% (26,42% das respostas). A pesquisa também indicou que grande parcela dos empresários não conhece os benéficos da ALC voltados à importação (45,28%) e desconhece benefícios a indústria (83,02%). Haja vista a perspectiva de crescimento e desenvolvimento, esses conceitos, bem como aspectos sobre impactos de desoneração fiscal, desigualdade regional no processo de desenvolvimento e dos ganhos do comércio internacional, dentre outros, são abordados nesse estudo. / The free trade areas are tax benefits institutes whose main objective is to promote the poor regions‟ development. The free trade area of Boa Vista, along with the Bonfim‟s, was the last to be deployed, in 2008, and its impacts are assessed through a questionnaire applied to companies of Boa Vista, in order to understand the satisfaction degree of businesses, barriers and perspectives of ALC of Boa Vista. For these reasons, we interviewed 53 companies, which represent 3.22% of the universe of companies registered and entitled Boa Vista in SUFRAMA, a situation necessary for companies to have access to the benefits of the ALC. The sample analysis shows that 69.81% of respondents say that their companies do have ALC‟s benefits. From this number, the assessment about the most significant incentives for the company, in descending order was: PIS/COFINS, ICMS, IPI and Import Tax. Among the main obstacles, respondents highlighted: few incentives for municipal and government; high shipping cost, shortage of skilled labor, lack of bonded port, difficulty in clearing the border with the state of Amazonas, among others. About the degree of satisfaction, the majority indicated satisfaction Average (39.62%). Nevertheless, most respondents (28.30%) said they had not obtained any reduction in prices of products purchased. The next most selected response was that the prices of purchased products reduced from 10.01 to 15% (26.42% of responses). The survey also indicated that a significant number of entrepreneurs do not know the benefits of targeted ALC imports (45.28%) and unknown benefits to industry (83.02%). Taking into account the perspective of growth and development, these concepts, as well as aspects of impacts of tax relief, regional disparities in development and the gains from international trade, among others, are addressed in this study.

As áreas de livre comércio – ALC – são zonas de benefícios tributários cujo principal objetivo é a promoção do desenvolvimento de regiões mais carentes. A área de livre comércio de Boa Vista, juntamente com a de Bonfim, foi a última a ser implantada, no ano de 2008, e seus impactos são analisados por meio de questionário aplicado a empresas de Boa Vista, com o objetivo de compreender seu grau de satisfação, os entraves e perspectivas da ALC-BV. Para tanto, foram entrevistadas 53 empresas, que representam 3,22% do universo de empresas de Boa Vista cadastradas e habilitadas na SUFRAMA, situação necessária para que as empresas tenham acesso aos benefícios da ALC. A análise da amostra apresenta que 69,81% dos entrevistados afirmam ter benefícios da ALC para sua empresa. Desses, a avaliação acerca dos incentivos mais significativos para a empresa, em ordem decrescente foi: PIS/COFINS, ICMS, IPI e Imposto de Importação. Dentre os principais entraves, os entrevistados destacaram: poucos incentivos da prefeitura e do governo; custo de transporte elevado; escassez de mão de obra especializada; ausência de porto alfandegado, dificuldade de desembaraço da fronteira com o estado do Amazonas, dentre outros. Acerca do grau de satisfação, a maioria indicou Média Satisfação (39,62%). Apesar disso, uma quantidade significativa dos entrevistados (28,30%) afirmou não ter obtido qualquer redução de preços dos produtos adquiridos. A resposta seguinte mais selecionada foi a de que os preços dos produtos adquiridos reduziram de 10,01 a 15% (26,42% das respostas). A pesquisa também indicou que grande parcela dos empresários não conhece os benéficos da ALC voltados à importação (45,28%) e desconhece benefícios a indústria (83,02%). Haja vista a perspectiva de crescimento e desenvolvimento, esses conceitos, bem como aspectos sobre impactos de desoneração fiscal, desigualdade regional no processo de desenvolvimento e dos ganhos do comércio internacional, dentre outros, são abordados nesse estudo. / The free trade areas are tax benefits institutes whose main objective is to promote the poor regions‟ development. The free trade area of Boa Vista, along with the Bonfim‟s, was the last to be deployed, in 2008, and its impacts are assessed through a questionnaire applied to companies of Boa Vista, in order to understand the satisfaction degree of businesses, barriers and perspectives of ALC of Boa Vista. For these reasons, we interviewed 53 companies, which represent 3.22% of the universe of companies registered and entitled Boa Vista in SUFRAMA, a situation necessary for companies to have access to the benefits of the ALC. The sample analysis shows that 69.81% of respondents say that their companies do have ALC‟s benefits. From this number, the assessment about the most significant incentives for the company, in descending order was: PIS/COFINS, ICMS, IPI and Import Tax. Among the main obstacles, respondents highlighted: few incentives for municipal and government; high shipping cost, shortage of skilled labor, lack of bonded port, difficulty in clearing the border with the state of Amazonas, among others. About the degree of satisfaction, the majority indicated satisfaction Average (39.62%). Nevertheless, most respondents (28.30%) said they had not obtained any reduction in prices of products purchased. The next most selected response was that the prices of purchased products reduced from 10.01 to 15% (26.42% of responses). The survey also indicated that a significant number of entrepreneurs do not know the benefits of targeted ALC imports (45.28%) and unknown benefits to industry (83.02%). Taking into account the perspective of growth and development, these concepts, as well as aspects of impacts of tax relief, regional disparities in development and the gains from international trade, among others, are addressed in this study.

Este trabalho tem o intuito de investigar os efeitos de uma das principais barreiras atualmente impostas ao comércio internacional: o antidumping. Embora seja um instrumento legal de combate ao comércio desleal – o dumping –, a utilização do referido instrumento passou a ser mais intensa após a redução das barreiras tarifárias promovidas pelas sucessivas rodadas de negociações multilaterais e acordos preferenciais de comércio. Concomitantemente, a prática indiscriminada do antidumping passou a estar cada vez mais dissociada da existência do próprio dumping. Nesse sentido, este trabalho avalia os impactos do antidumping sob duas óticas. A primeira, ex-post, identifica os efeitos dos processos antidumping iniciados desde o início da década de 1990 pelos EUA sobre diversos produtos brasileiros, especialmente no que tange ao desempenho das importações daquele país. Para tanto, utiliza-se a metodologia de Mudança de Regime Markoviano, que permite avaliar as alterações ocorridas ao longo do tempo na série de importações, avaliando médias, variâncias e probabilidades de transição entre regimes. Os resultados encontrados indicam que as iniciações dos processos antidumping usualmente ocorrem após um longo período – entre dois e três anos – de regime de crescimento (2% a.m), passando para o regime de menor crescimento (entre -4% e -6% a.m.), entre a decisão preliminar e final do processo Em geral, pode-se dizer que os efeitos são negativos, embora não haja uma convergência para um estado absorvente de menor crescimento das importações na maioria dos casos analisados. Adicionalmente, realiza-se uma análise ex-ante, identificando possíveis impactos de uma reação antidumping por parte dos EUA sobre o Brasil, após a criação da Área de Livre Comércio das Américas (ALCA). As simulações supõem diferentes cenários, como a recomposição de tarifas (1) nos segmentos mais afetados em termos de crescimento de importações por parte dos EUA e (2) nos segmentos historicamente mais afetados pela prática antidumping por parte dos norte-americanos. A metodologia de equilíbrio geral, através do GTAP com modelo de concorrência perfeita, mostra que, em todos cenários, os benefícios totais de bem-estar são preservados. Conclui-se também que uma eventual “blitz” antidumping sobre setores que os EUA tradicionalmente aplicam o instrumento não deve afetar o Brasil tão fortemente quanto ações antidumping sobre setores cujas importações por parte dos norte-americanos cresceriam após a implementação da ALCA. / The objective of this thesis is to investigate one of the main barriers to international trade: antidumping. While a legal tool to defeat dumping, this instrument has been highly applied especially after the reduction of tariff barriers, an outcome of multilateral trade negotiations rounds and even preferential trade agreements during the last decades. Nevertheless, the indiscriminate practice of antidumping has become dissociate even from the existence of dumping itself. This study evaluates the antidumping impacts in two different instances. Firstly, it identifies the ex-post trading effects of the antidumping processes initiated since the early 90’s by USA over several Brazilian products. The methodology used is the Markov Switching Model that allows the evaluation of regime changes on USA imports from Brazil, assessing its mean, variance and transition probabilities. The results indicate that antidumping processes are initiated usually after a long time – about two or three years – of growth regime (2% monthly), changing to a lower growth regime (-2% to –6% monthly), between preliminary and final decisions. Generally, antidumping effects over Brazilian exports have been negative, even though there isn’t a convergence to an absorbent state of exports reduction in the majority of the products studied. Moreover, an ex ante evaluation is taken forward, identifying possible outcomes of an USA antidumping reaction after the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) has been created. The simulations suppose different scenarios like a surge in tariffs, offsetting the reduction carried over by the FTAA agreement. Two scenarios include the surge in tariffs (offsetting 5% and 25% of pre Alca tariffs) in sectors which imports have been raised after FTAA has been implemented; while the third one simulates a 50% tariff offset on sectors that USA usually applies antidumping measures. The general equilibrium methodology, through the application of the standard General Trade Applied Project (GTAP), demonstrates that in all scenarios the welfare benefits are persevered. The conclusion is that an antidumping blitz over sectors that traditionally are affected by USA measures shall not affect Brazil as strongly as antidumping actions over sector in which USA imports has risen after FTAA.

The thesis will be discussing the relation between India and the European Union (EU) after the biggest enlargement. After the inevitable setting of the historic background of these two entities in the 60-ties of the 20. century, we will focus on the period almost half of the century after, where India and the EU started working on stronger relational structure. Besides the cultural and social familiarity of two mutually completely different cultures, the stress is essentially put on the political and economic aspect. Till today, strengthening of this structure is created mainly by the organization of regular meetings. The part of summits' work undoubtedly consists in the common trade between India and EU, that will also obtain the opportunity to be mentioned. That one will be supplemented with the economic and political view of the Indian bilateral trade with three selected member states, United Kingdom, France and Germany. Protectionism, nowadays still very integral to the majority of foreign commerce relations in the world, will be the last but one topic that makes at the same time the introduction to the final one, key part of my work, critical perspective on the India - EU relation.

Magister Legum - LLM / The main objective of this study was to examine the prospects and challenges facing ACFTA (Asean-China free trade area). It examined what ought to be done by the ASEAN member nations to match China's competitive ability having recently joined the World Trade Organization. The study also examined the compatibility of the ACFTA with the World Trade Organization rules and mode of dispute settlement under ASEAN and NAFTA as well as profound issues relating to ACFTA. / South Africa

Masters administration (M. Admin) / The tri-partite initiative in and for Africa has been accompanied by high levels of optimism since its political endorsement in 2008. It provides for an opportunity to resolve a host of problems with regards to regional integration in Eastern and Southern Africa. The overall aim of this study is to explore the prospects and challenges towards realising the Tri-partite Free Trade Area (T-FTA) in and for Africa. This study is pragmatic and implicitly seeks to uncover how the T-FTA could contribute to the African Regional Integration Project (ARIP), given the challenges that regional integration face in Africa. Regional integration has a long and rich history in Africa, which started at thehave been weak since the start and persist in its superficial nature with littledevelopmental impact. The reasons for the lack of meaningful integration in Africa are wide-ranging and span national, regional and system level analytical viewpoints. They encompass areas such as developmental levels, political will, respect for regional architecture, overlapping membership and the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). These factors impact on the integration process in Africa and explain in varied ways why there has been little comprehensive economic integration. The starting point was to define the complex concept of regional integration. The dominant factors that define and affect regional integration in this study are that it is a state-based exercise, driven by economic integration, and influenced by the global political economy of the day. It was determined that Africa has adapted its regional integration strategies according to the shifts and influences in the global political economy on states, emanating from the post WWII period to the present day. The mpact of the global economy on Africa since independence was great and is viewed impact on the integration process. Regional integration is essentially a state to state pursuit for integration. Essentially, regional integration is being pursued by states that are still struggling to consolidate statehood, and this leaves little space to move towards a regional approach. However, given the dynamics of a globalised world, regional integration as a strategy is no longer questioned in Africa and is an important component of its developmental agenda. Clarifying the T-FTA was important, and this was done in order to highlight what the tri-partite initiative is and is not. This provided for an opportunity to investigate what the dominant areas are that have informed the emergence of the tri-partite process. The former was found to be largely economic in nature, focusing on harmonising the trade regimes of COMESA, EAC and SADC as a primary motivation. The tri-partite initiative will facilitate and encourage the harmonisation of trade regimes by stressing market integration, infrastructure development and industrialisation, coupled by a developmental approach. This is promising, as the tri-partite initiative seeks to simultaneously deal with many issues that have been commonly associated with the problems that regional integration face in Africa. When viewing the negotiating context, as well as the principles upon which it is to be based, indicate though, that Africa still favours individual state interest that will be hard to reconcile given that the tri-partite region currently has 26 participant states. In terms of economic integration, the T-FTA seeks to put new generation trade issues on the agenda by including services, movement of persons as well as trade facilitation, all of which have been found to be important in realising a trade in goods agenda that is the focus of regional integration in Africa. Analysing the grassroots realities of the market integration pillar offered some valuable insights towards the purposes of this study. The market integration pillar is inundated with challenges, with Rules of Origin (RoO) being the primary challenge towards consolidating the trade in goods agenda on a tri-partite level. New generation trade issues are going to be equally difficult to realise, given that they have no implementation record in the individual Regional Economic Communities (RECs). Promising though is that trade facilitation has already seen positive results by resolving non tariff barriers in the regions.Infrastructure development is equally challenging, although it provides a significant opportunity to create better connectivity (physical integration) between states. In lot of pan-African goals that directly feed into initiatives of the African Union (AU) pillar has not as yet created any concrete tri-partite plans, so it remains to be seen what can be achieved. Ideally, industrialisation is viewed as the pillar that will solve the supply-side constraints of African economies hence, strengthening the trade in goods agenda in the regions. Even though the T-FTA has practical challenges to implementation, there are at least two underlying factors that indirectly affect the prospects of realising the tripartite initiative. The EPAs are an emergent threat in that they run parallel to tripartite negotiations; and respect for a rules based integration process, are issues that warrant consideration. Fundamentally, in order to achieve a successful T-FTA will require a shift in the way business is done in African integration. African states need to realise that their national interests are best served through cooperation, in meaningful ways. Inevitably this requires good faith as well as ceding some sovereignty towards regional goals. Thus, there is a risk that the T-FTA not realised. The fundamentals of political will, economic polarisation and instability have to be resolved. This will lay an appropriate foundation for the tripartite initiative to be sustainable, with developmental impact. / South Africa

La dynamique de recherche de nouveaux facteurs de développement constitue le souci le plus délicat pour la Tunisie. L’investissement étranger à travers le principe : laissez-investir, est un remède adéquat du syndrome de sous-développement. Pour la Tunisie, la protection des investissements est le facteur prépondérant. Elle a pris des mesures concernant aussi bien le cadre institutionnel que les conditions économiques ou la facilitation des affaires.Les principales actions de promotion de l’investissement menées par la Tunisie sont l’offre d’avantages financiers et fiscaux, la communication (publicité, etc.) et la création d’agences chargées de faciliter l’établissement des investisseurs étrangers. L’acceptation, enfin, de la Tunisie de ‘‘renoncer’’ à une partie de sa souveraineté constitue l’obéissance parfaite aux exigences de la mondialisation et la réponse solennelle aux revendications du développement endo-exogène. L’acceptation, par la Tunisie, d’être jugée par un particulier devant une institution juridictionnelle régionale ou arbitrale internationale reflète l’harmonie, par excellence, avec les dictats du nouvel ordre économique international (NOEI).La Tunisie n’est plus à la marge de la société économique mondiale, elle est plutôt dans le coeur de l’évènement, elle s’est internationalisée, globalisée et mondialisée. / The dynamic of research of new factors of development is the main concern for Tunisia. The foreign investment through the principle: Let Invest, ‘’LAISSER-INVESTIR” is the appropriate remedy for the syndrome of under-development. For Tunisia, the investment protection is the major factor. It had taken measures concerning the institutional framework as well as the economic conditions or the business facilitation. The main promotion actions of investments conducted by Tunisia are financial and fiscal incentives, communication (advertisement, etc.) and the setting up of investment promotion agencies to facilitate the establishment of foreign investors. Finally, the acceptance of Tunisia to relinquish a part of its sovereignty is a perfect obedience to the demands of globalization and a solemn answer to the claim of the endogenous/exogenous development. The acceptation of Tunisia to be judged by an individual before one regional judicial institution or an international arbitration reflects the harmony with excellence with the dictates of the New International Economic Order (NIEO). Tunisia is not at outside the global economic society, but rather in the heart of the event. She becomes globalized and internationalized.

The thesis deals with the external economic relations between the European Union and Canada. The aim is to analyze the current state of their bilateral partnership - whether the current tools used by the partners nowadays fulfil their potential of 21st century. The thesis also analyzes the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and its prospective impact on a character of the partnership between the EU and Canada as well its impact from a wider, global perspective.

Transatlantic relations have a long tradition but their current state has recently come into question. This thesis is concerned with the contemporary foreign policy of the United States of America towards the European Union, focusing mainly on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) which has been under negotiation since July 2013. The first chapter provides the theoretical and methodological framework, explaining how the American political system and foreign policy construction work and suggesting how these can be analyzed. The following chapters deal with the TTIP itself, using mainly the sub-state level of analysis. Chapter 2 explains the overall agenda of the TTIP, analysing America's goals in the negotiations and the TTIP's possible impact on transatlantic relations. Chapter 3 investigates the role and goals of state actors in the ongoing negotiations, namely of the president of the United States; Congress and the United States Trade Representative and State Department. Chapter 4 is based on analysis of non-state actors involved in or affected by the TTIP negotiations.

This thesis set out to ascertain the position of recent Australian Governments on the latest instalments of Asian regionalism in the context of an assessment of whether there has been a redefinition of Asia and thus a redefinition of Australia???s engagement with Asia. It will concentrate on the broad themes of politico-strategic and economic engagement. Whilst there has been extensive research and documentation on the Asian economic crisis there has been less work on the issue of a new Asian regionalism and the implications for Australia???s complex and variable engagement with the region. This is the basis for the claim to originality of this thesis, a claim supported by its focus on the practical and policy implications of Australia???s engagement, or lack of it, with regional institutions. The process of regional integration has been extremely slow, thus supporting the conclusion that there is no evidence of a major redefinition of Asia. Efforts at Asian regionalism are meeting obstacles that pose immense challenges. Asian regionalism remains nascent and poorly defined. This reflects the diversity and enormous disparities in cultures, political systems and the levels of economic development and differences over economic philosophies within East Asia. What is discernible is that the regionalism is proceeding more rapidly on financial issues than on trade, and in the security area it is conspicuously absent. This research highlights the fact that the question of Asian engagement remains a sensitive issue in Australia and continues to grow more complex. Australia???s engagement with Asia since 1996 has been variable because of the Howard Government???s broader balance of priorities between global and regional issues, and because of the changing nature of the Asian region. The perception gleaned from sources is that, for the Australian Government, regionalism initiatives are characterised by much discussion but lack substance. Consequently, this appears to have led the Government to the position that exclusion from some manifestations of regionalism is not so important. Australia is excluded from some of the regional architectures being constructed. In its efforts to seek inclusion in ASEAN + 3 and ASEM, Australia is facing the same barriers that have stood in the way of an AFTA-CER agreement. Exclusion would be important if the performance of regional groupings was not so indifferent. Exclusion from ASEAN + 3 and ASEM, however, does not equate to Australia???s exclusion from the region.