GATT
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), signed on
October 30, 1947, by 23 countries, was a legal agreement
minimizing barriers to international trade by eliminating or reducing
quotas, tariffs, and subsidies while preserving significant
regulations.1 The GATT was intended to boost economic recovery
after World War II through reconstructing and liberalizing global
trade.
The GATT went into effect on January 1, 1948.2 Since that beginning
it has been refined, eventually leading to the creation of the World
Trade Organization (WTO) on January 1, 1995, which absorbed and
extended it.3 By this time 125 nations were signatories to its
agreements, which covered about 90% of global trade.
The Council for Trade in Goods (Goods Council) is responsible for
the GATT and consists of representatives from all WTO member
countries. As of September 2020, the chair of the Goods Council is
Swedish Ambassador Mikael Anzén.5 The council has 10 committees
that address subjects including market access, agriculture, subsidies,
and anti-dumping measures.
Asian development bank
The Asian Development Bank's primary mission is to foster growth
and cooperation among countries in the Asia-Pacific Region.1
Founded in 1966 and based in Manila, Philippines, the ADB assists
members and partners by providing loans, technical assistance,
grants, and equity investments to promote social and economic
development.
The ADB has been responsible for major projects in the region and
raises capital regularly through the international bond markets. The
ADB also relies on member contributions, retained earnings from
lending, and the repayment of loans for the funding of the
organization.
How the Asian Development Bank Works
The Asian Development Bank provides assistance to its developing
member countries, the private sector, and public-private
partnerships through grants, loans, technical assistance, and equity
investments to promote development. The ADB regularly facilitates
policy dialogues and provides advisory services. They also use co-
financing operations that tap official, commercial, and export credit
sources while providing assistance.
Export promotion
Export promotion is used by many countries and regions to promote
the goods and services from their companies abroad. This is good
for the trade balance and for the overall economy. Export
promotion can also have incentive programs designed to draw more
companies into exporting. Governments do this by providing
assistance in the marketing and product identification and
development, by arranging payment guaranty schemes, pre-
shipment and post-shipment financing, trade visits, training, trade
fairs, and foreign representation.
Your company can benefit from export promotion efforts:
It is always a good first step to have a look what programs your
country or region that may benefit you. One option for example is
participating in country, state or regional pavilions on major trade
shows. On top of that, many governments have subsidies for market
research, partner searches or other activities where the aid of a
professional is needed to make exports work. This can also be in the
form of a fiscal incentive. Singapore for example has the Double Tax
Deduction on business development expenses made overseas.
Euro market
The term euromarket has two distinct meanings:
In finance, it is the market for eurocurrencies: these are all
currencies that are held as deposits by companies or individuals
outside of their country of issue.
In commerce, it refers to the single market of the European Union
(EU) in which goods and services are freely traded between member
countries, and which have a common trade policy with non-EU
countries.
Understanding the Euromarket
A euromarket can be used to describe the financial market for
eurocurrencies. A eurocurrency is any currency held or traded
outside its country of issue. For example, a eurodollar is a dollar
deposit held or traded outside the U.S. A key incentive for the
development, and continued existence of such a market is that it is
free from the regulatory environment (and sometimes political or
other country-specific risks) of the "home" country.
MMTC
MMTC Ltd., Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation of India, is one
of the two highest earners of foreign exchange for India and India's
largest public sector trading body. Not only handling the export and
import of primary products such as coal, iron ore, agro and
industrial products, MMTC also exports and imports important
commodities such as ferrous and nonferrous metals for industry,
and agricultural fertilizers. MMTC's diverse trade activities cover
third country trade, joint ventures and link deals and all modern
forms of international trading. The company has a vast international
trade network, spanning almost in all countries in Asia, Europe,
Africa, Oceania, and in the United States and also includes a wholly
owned international subsidiary in Singapore, MTPL. It is one of the
Miniratnas companies.
MMTC is one of the two highest foreign exchange earner for India
(after petroleum refining companies).[2] It is the largest
international trading company of India and the first public sector
enterprise to be accorded the status of Five Star Export Houses by
Government of India for long standing contribution to exports
Being the largest player in bullion trade, including retailing, MMTC's
share was 146 tonnes of gold out of the total import of 600 tonnes
of the precious metal in 2008–09.
SDR
The Special Drawing Right (SDR) is an interest-bearing international
reserve asset created by the IMF in 1969 to supplement other
reserve assets of member countries.
The SDR is based on a basket of international currencies comprising
the U.S. dollar, Japanese yen, euro, pound sterling and Chinese
Renminbi. It is not a currency, nor a claim on the IMF, but is
potentially a claim on freely usable currencies of IMF members. The
value of the SDR is set daily by the IMF on the basis of fixed currency
amounts of the currencies included in the SDR basket and the daily
market exchange rates between the currencies included in the SDR
basket.
SDRs are only allocated to IMF members that elect to participate in
the SDR Department. Currently all members of the IMF are
participants in the SDR Department.
SDRs can be held and used by member countries, the IMF, and
certain designated official entities called "prescribed holders" (see
below)—but it cannot be held, for example, by private entities or
individuals. Its status as a reserve asset derives from the
commitments of members to hold and exchange SDRs and accept
the value of SDRs as determined by the Fund. The SDR also serves as
the unit of account of the IMF and some other international
organizations, and financial obligations may also be denominated in
SDR.