MNA Business Desk: There is nothing to be worried about preferential treatment of Bangladesh in the European Union even after the country’s graduation from LDC (least developed country) status in 2024, a German diplomat said in Dhaka on Wednesday. “The EU has offered to extend preferential market access for an additional three years from the graduation, meaning Bangladesh will enjoy the special treatment in EU market until 2027,” he said. “There will be ample opportunity for Bangladesh and EU to sit together and find a way for the transition,” Deputy Ambassador of German Embassy in Dhaka Burkhard Ducoffere said. He ...
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US-EU negotiate to skip trade clash
MNA Business Desk: The United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that US has agreed to work towards lowering trade barriers with the European Union. Trump made this comment after a meeting with European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker. The two would work for zero tariffs, zero non-tariff barriers, and zero subsidies on non-auto goods, he said. They also agreed to increase trade in services and agriculture, including greater US soy bean exports to the EU, reported news agency. The agreements come amid heightened tensions between the US and EU. The two leaders defused what had threatened to become a ...
Read More »EU, China pledge to uphold global trade order
MNA Business Desk: The European Union and China pledged on Monday to uphold a rules-based global trade system, making an oblique criticism of growing protectionism in Washington despite their own disagreements, reported news agency. The two sides held high-level economic meetings in Beijing as both face rising trade tensions with the United States. Brussels and Beijing recently announced new tariffs on US goods in retaliation for moves by the Trump administration. “Both sides agreed to resolutely oppose unilateralism and protectionism and prevent such practices from impacting the world economy and even dragging the world economy into recession,” said Chinese Vice ...
Read More »Euro zone GDP growth slows in Q1
MNA Business Desk: The economical growth of the Euro zone slowed in the first quarter of this year and industrial output in March was weaker than expected, data from the European Union’s statistics office Eurostat has showed. The Eurostat said on Tuesday that its earlier preliminary flash estimate that gross domestic product (GDP in the 19 countries that share the euro rose 0.4 per cent quarter on quarter in the Q1 slowing from 0.7 per cent in the previous quarters. Year-on-year, euro zone GDP grew 2.5 per cent, in line with the preliminary estimate and down from 2.8 per cent ...
Read More »EU lawmakers demand Russia WC boycott
MNA Sports Desk: A group of European Union (EU) lawmakers on Friday urged the bloc’s leaders to boycott this year’s football World Cup in Russia to protest over Moscow’s “mockery of European values”. The 60 Member of European Parliament (MEP) said all EU countries should follow the lead of Britain and non-EU member Iceland in refusing to send official delegations to the tournament, which starts on 14 June. London announced last month that ministers and royals would stay away from the tournament in protest at the nerve agent poisoning of a former Russian spy in a British town, which Western ...
Read More »Myanmar to face stronger EU pressure in Feb
MNA Exclusive Desk: The European Union is likely to come up with a more genuine pressure on Myanmar in February so that it acts promptly and creates an environment for the sustainable return of Rohingyas to their homeland from Bangladesh. ‘I’m sure there’ll be new (EU) council conclusions on Myanmar in February. I hope there’ll be more pressure. The only thing is to put more pressure on Myanmar,’ EU Head of Delegation Ambassador Rensje Teerink told news agency in an interview. In October last year, the Council of the EU in its conclusions said it may consider additional measures if ...
Read More »EU put off investment deal with Myanmar
MNA Exclusive Desk: The inking of the investment protection agreement (IPA) between the European Union and Myanmar has been put off until an unknown date. On September 14, the Committee on International Trade of the European Parliament announced that it has postponed its visit to Myanmar, which was meant to finalise the EU-Myanmar investment agreement, according to a report published in the Myanmar Times. The committee’s chair, Bernd Lange, said that the delegation is postponed until further notice. “The EP’s International Trade Committee decided to postpone the delegation to Myanmar to an unknown date as it was clear that the ...
Read More »Engagement with Hifazat-e-Islam is ‘positive’: EU
MNA Editorial Desk: The European Union Head of the Delegation in Dhaka finds the government’s approach in engaging with the Islamist group Hifazat-e-Islam ‘positive’. “If initiatives are taken to engage with some components of society who otherwise would have been left aside….i think it is positive,” ambassador Pierre Mayaudon said on Monday. The question raised in light of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s recent invitation to Hifazat leaders to visit her residence. “This inclusive society rallies long objectives which are consensual objectives of bringing forward socio-economic agenda, and development agenda of Bangladesh. No quarters, no segments of the society, of population ...
Read More »UK formally launches process for leaving EU today
MNA International Desk: Britain formally launches the process for leaving the European Union on Wednesday. Just days after the EU’s 60th birthday, Britain is poised to become the first country ever to seek a divorce, striking a blow at the heart of the union forged from the ashes of World War II. Nine months since the shock British referendum vote to leave the EU, Prime Minister Theresa May will trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, meaning Britain is set to leave the EU in 2019. “We must no longer be defined by the votes we cast in the referendum-but ...
Read More »UK parliament gave approval on Brexit bill
MNA International Desk: UK parliament gave its approval Monday for Prime Minister Theresa May to start Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, even as Scotland signaled its opposition by announcing plans for a fresh independence vote. The House of Lords rejected a last-ditch attempt to amend a bill empowering May to begin Brexit, paving the way for it to become law as early as Tuesday. The prime minister could then trigger Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty at any time, starting two years of talks that will end with Britain becoming the first country to leave the bloc. May’s ...
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