HEAVEN IS WHEN YOU HAVE:
An American SalaryA British Home
A Chinese Food
A Swiss Economy
An Italian Body
A Japanese Technology
An African Tool
And a Filipina-Igorota Wife.
HELL IS WHEN YOU HAVE:
An American Wife
A British BodyA Chinese Tool
A Swiss Food
An Italian Technology
A Japanese Home
An African Economy
And a Filipino Salary
from:pancing1234@yahoo.com
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
List of Trade Agreements of which the Philippines is a signatory- ASEAN Consultation on Trade and Investment Issues (ACT) (Description only)
The ASEAN Consultation to Solve Trade and Investment Issues (ACT) is an internet-based problem solving network for use by business operators and other agencies as a non-legal and non-binding mechanism that is able to able to expeditiously resolve operational problems encountered by the regional business community on cross-border issues related to the implementation of ASEAN agreements.
WHAT IS ACT
The ASEAN Consultation to Solve Trade and Investment Issues (ACT) is an internet-based problem solving network for use by business operators and other agencies as a non-legal and non-binding mechanism that is able to able to expeditiously resolve operational problems encountered by the regional business community on cross-border issues related to the implementation of ASEAN agreements.
The ACT directly links the national administrations of ASEAN Member Countries via their National AFTA Units (so-called “National ACTs”) though a shared online database overseen by the AFTA Unit of the ASEAN Secretariat.
Private individuals and businesses faced with operational problems related to a given Member Country’s implementation of an ASEAN commitment are invited to highlight these problems through the ACT.
Complaints can be lodged via the National ACT of the ASEAN Member Country in which the operator is registered. This so-called “Host ACT” will then vet the Complaint and if considered worthy of follow-up will pass the Complaint on to the National ACT of the ASEAN Member Country in which the infringement seems to have taken place (the so-called “Lead ACT”). Where the Lead ACT agrees that further investigation is required, the Complaint becomes an ACT “Case”.
Clients can monitor the progress of a given Case via the on-line ACT database. A deadline for the resolution of the Case is indicated by the database, which is also monitored by the AFTA Unit of the ASEAN Secretariat until such time as a solution has been found.
List of Trade Agreements of which the Philippines is a signatory- APEC (Description only)
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a forum for 21 Pacific Rim countries or regions (styled 'member economies') to discuss the regional economy, cooperation, trade and investment. The membership is claimed to account for approximately 41% of the world's population, approximately 56% of world GDP and about 49% of world trade.The activities, including year-round meetings of the members' ministers, are coordinated by the APEC Secretariat.
The organization conducts the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, an annual summit attended by the heads of government of all APEC members (with the exception of the Republic of China (ROC) which is represented under the name Chinese Taipei by a ministerial-level official at the behest of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The location of the summit rotates annually among the member economies, and a famous tradition involves the attending leaders dressing in a national costume of the host member
source:
List of Trade Agreements of which the Philippines is a signatory- WTO (Description only)
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an international organization designed to supervise and liberalize international trade. The WTO came into being on 1 January 1995, and is the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which was created in 1947, and continued to operate for almost five decades as a de facto international organization.
The World Trade Organization deals with the rules of trade between nations at a near-global level; it is responsible for negotiating and implementing new trade agreements, and is in charge of policing member countries' adherence to all the WTO agreements, signed by the majority of the world's trading nations and ratified in their parliaments.[ Most of the issues that the WTO focuses on derive from previous trade negotiations, especially from the Uruguay Round. The organization is currently working with its members on a new trade negotiation called the Doha Development Agenda (Doha round), launched in 2001.
The WTO has 153 members, which represents more than 95% of total world trade.The WTO is governed by a Ministerial Conference, which meets every two years; a General Council, which implements the conference's policy decisions and is responsible for day-to-day administration; and a director-general, who is appointed by the Ministerial Conference. The WTO's headquarters is in Geneva, Switzerland.
The World Trade Organization deals with the rules of trade between nations at a near-global level; it is responsible for negotiating and implementing new trade agreements, and is in charge of policing member countries' adherence to all the WTO agreements, signed by the majority of the world's trading nations and ratified in their parliaments.[ Most of the issues that the WTO focuses on derive from previous trade negotiations, especially from the Uruguay Round. The organization is currently working with its members on a new trade negotiation called the Doha Development Agenda (Doha round), launched in 2001.
The WTO has 153 members, which represents more than 95% of total world trade.The WTO is governed by a Ministerial Conference, which meets every two years; a General Council, which implements the conference's policy decisions and is responsible for day-to-day administration; and a director-general, who is appointed by the Ministerial Conference. The WTO's headquarters is in Geneva, Switzerland.
links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Organization
in brief:
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=F.0c49da31-80ea-4868-9ebc-d9a73ee293b2&hl=en
List of Trade Agreements of which the Philippines is a signatory-ASEAN Free Trade Area (Description only)
This was our assignment in Finman11
ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) is a trade bloc agreement by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations supporting local manufacturing in all ASEAN countries.
The AFTA agreement was signed on 28 January 1992 in Singapore. When the AFTA agreement was originally signed, ASEAN had six members, namely, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Vietnam joined in 1995, Laos and Myanmar in 1997 and Cambodia in 1999. AFTA now comprises the ten countries of ASEAN. All the four latecomers were required to sign the AFTA agreement in order to join ASEAN, but were given longer time frames in which to meet AFTA's tariff reduction obligations.
The primary goals of AFTA seek to:
Increase ASEAN's competitive edge as a production base in the world market through the elimination, within ASEAN, of tariffs and non-tariff barriers; and
The primary mechanism for achieving the goals given above is the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) scheme, which established a schedule for phased initiated in 1992 with the self-described goal to increase the "region’s competitive advantage as a production base geared for the world market".
additional links:
Friday, November 28, 2008
When I say... "I am a Christian"
When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not shouting "I'm clean livin'.
"I'm whispering "I was lost,
Now I'm found and forgiven."
When I say... "I am a Christian"
I don't speak of this with pride.
I'm confessing that I stumbleand need Christ
to be my guide.
When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not trying to be strong.
I'm professing that I'm weak
And need His strength to carry on.
When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed
And need God to clean my mess.
When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible
But, God believes I am worth it.
When I say... "I am a Christian"
I still feel the sting of pain.
I have my share of heartaches
So I call upon His name.
When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not holier than thou,
I'm just a simple sinner
Who received God's good grace, somehow!
Share this with somebody who already has this understanding, asreinforcement.
But more importantly, share this with those who do not havea clear understanding
of what it means to be a Christian,
so that the myththat Christians think they are "perfect"
or "better than others"can bedispelled.
courtesy:
cyndi_caster@yahoo.com.ph
Thursday, November 27, 2008
To a nice Person
Hello There Nice Person
Did Anyone Ever Tell You
Just How Special You Are
The Light that You Emit
Might Even Light a Star
Did Anyone Ever Tell You
How Important You Make Others Feel
Somebody out Here is Smiling
About Love that is So Real
Did Anyone Ever Tell You
Many Times, When They were Sad
Your Smile made them Smile a bit
In fact It made them Glad
for the Time You Spend Sending Things
And Sharing Whatever You Find
There are No Words to thank You
but Somebody, Thinks You're Fine
Did Anyone Ever Tell You
Just How Much They Like You
courtesy: rouwel23@yahoo.com
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Why Do Things Go Wrong
Why do things go wrong?
We rarely see people who feel happy
when they go through wrong, badsituations...
most of us, get mad, we regret...
but practicallyspeaking, it won't do good since it happened already.
but it does helpus to try better next time we face it.
or it helps us to feel bad about making mistakes,
then we prepare and make sure
we're ready toface it the next time.
Why do things go wrong?
Some people ask themselves, why do things go wrong?
Do I deserve this?
If you experience bad situations, never your fault, then,
BE HAPPYwith it! hehe
why? you know why?...because
"GOD won't give anything beyond what you can bear".
it only means that He TRUSTS you and BELIEVES in you,
SEES your potential.He stretches you out,
He brings out the best in you.
That's when God wants us to come to Him for greater strength.
Why would He give a challenge that we can do solo without Him?
He loves to show His greatness,
His Love as a Father, etc.
One of the reasons why it happens...
God draws out the bigger picture of what you can BE,
what you canHAVE, what you can DO the next time it happens.
try thinking aboutyour failure,
it just reminds you to become better next time.
FAILURE has two endings, either you QUIT or ACHIEVE.
We see ourselves, the REAL McCoy, the TRUTH about our ATTITUDE,
We begin to ask ourselves, Will I still go after I fail?
Or is it aSIGN that i just can't do it?
We begin to understand who we are.
Why do things go wrong?
Maybe, just a mere mistake of someone, or yours...
But on the other side, the reason most likely will be,
because GODallows ut to see OURSELVES
if we are quitters or achievers.
But one thing for sure, those who persevere to fulfill HIS WILL
will never end as failure.
There is always HOPE, for "HOPE is a CHOICE"....
Go on, don't let emotions drag you, pull you down,
or don't let anything put you down,
when you strongly believe that it's GOD's will, then, GO!
...If God is for you, who can then be against you!?...
Why do things go wrong?
For you to have deeper understanding and become a better person
no matter how unfair it may look.
IT's a CHOICE to win,
IT's a CHOICE
to COME BACK
after failing.
Go for it.
courtesy of:
escalkristel@yahoo.com
The Philippines’s Global Trade Negotiations Agenda: Review and Update of RP’s Trade Negotiations Strategy By Secretary Peter B. Favila
The Philippines’s Global Trade Negotiations Agenda: Review and Update of RP’s Trade Negotiations Strategy
By Secretary
Peter B. Favila
Consultation and Information Dissemination on Regional Trade Agreements and Free Trade Agreement 16 April 2008, 9:30 am Bayview Hotel, Manila
Good morning.
I am honored that you have asked to speak on the trade negotiations agenda of the Philippines. It is heartening to see business and academic leaders coming together for this initiative to bring various stakeholders up to speed on the different trade agreements which the Philippines is currently negotiating. It is precisely this readiness to transcend barriers and go in partnership with one another that enables us to achieve out goals, much more than if we work in isolation, or worse, work to put down other people.
Forging agreements with other countries, seeking and maintaining alliances across a whole range of issues, also entails transcending barriers, looking past our differences and addressing the issues affecting us all.
The trade negotiations agenda is driven by the never ending quest for greater market access for Philippine exports, followed by investment – especially foreign investment- and a deepening of productive capacity, industrial linkages, and competitiveness, especially in small and medium enterprises. This is the virtuous cycle of the Philippine trade negotiations that we seek. There are basically two fronts where we apply the trade negotiations agenda – the multilateral front, which is the World Trade Organization and the ongoing Doha Round of trade negotiations; and the regional engagements we have pursued in the last 16 years. And to make matters simple for you, if greater market access eludes us in the Doha Round, we will pursue it in the regional (and bilateral) engagements; and vice versa.
What We Seek
As I have said, our agenda is focused on market access. Our engagement in all fore must result in a net expansion in the access for Philippine products abroad.
This is the essence of engagement in the AFTA-CEPT, in the NAMA (non-agricultural market access) negotiations in the Doha Round, in the JPEPA, and in the various ASEAN-plus FTA negotiations. And should the ASEAN-EU and ASEAN-US FTA negotiations get on moving, we will have covered the entirety of Philippine trade interests.
Of course, the market access benefits from FTA s are much deeper than in the Doha Round, where free trade is not the mandate. But multilateral engagements allow us to tap into the markets of other emerging markets (e.g. Brazil, South Africa) with whom we have no intention, for now, to negotiate FTAs.
Moreover, the WTO is the stalwart of stable and predictable trade rules. The best example here is the Agriculture negotiations in the Doha Round, where we aim to forge permanent rules that would limit, even eliminate, farm subsidies in the developed world. What could be fairer and more desirable than a result such as that!
Another example is the Doha Round negotiations on anti-dumping practices, where it will be to our benefit if certain rules are clarified and will allow peace of mind, so to speak, whenever we use trade remedies
Just to highlight one important difference between the multilateral and regional negotiations, one will not expect subsidy and anti-dumping disciplines to be agreed in FTAs, but such disciplines will necessarily form an integral part of multilateral trade negotiations like the Doha Round.
We have also sought to lock in enhanced competitiveness through the trade negotiations agenda. This principle simply dictated that we need to engage in trade negotiations because in doing so, domestic competitiveness is harnessed. This is best illustrated in the Services negotiations of the Doha Round where the request-and-offer process has revealed rigidity in present laws; for example, with respect to allowing foreign professionals to operate in the Philippines. I am not saying that we will allow foreign doctors, lawyers, accountants, and architects to practice in the Philippines. That’s up to the lawmakers. What I am saying, however, is a number of services sectors currently reserved exclusively or predominantly for locals will inevitably need to face the challenge of competition from foreigners.
At the same time, the sensitivities in particular sectors are very much top of mind. This is why the Philippines has been rather vigorous in the negotiations on Special Products and the Special Safeguard Mechanism in the Agriculture negotiations of the Doha Round. This is why the Philippines has been a front liner in negotiating higher flexibilities in the NAMA negotiations, especially in cases like ours where autonomous liberalization has taken place over the last 15 years.
Multilateral Approach
The Doha Development Agenda (DDA) will remain as a top priority of the Philippines. With over 151 members, the ongoing WTO multilateral trade negotiations is the most sensible approach towards the development and implementation of a common set of trade rules to be applied to everyone.
The Philippines will continue to adopt a dynamic yet practical approach to international trade negotiations and will fight strongly for its economic interests (i.e. market access for its exports). At the same time we will strive to maintain adequate internal policy options to assist domestic industries in adjusting to freer global competition.
Given our limited manpower and other resources, and depending on the nature of the issues, the country will either pursue particular issues on its own (e.g., dispute settlement cases), align with other WTO Members and various groups in the WTO (e.g., G20 and G33 in Agriculture and NAMA 11 in industrial tariffs), or allow issues to be resolved by the major players. This last option is most appropriate if interests in an issue converge with the interests of a major player (e.g., in anti-dumping issues where the country shares a lot of positions advocated by the United States).
Bilateral and Regional Approaches
Let us now move on to the bilateral and regional agreements.
JPEPA is the only bilateral EPA to which the Philippines has signed on and Senate concurrence is currently being awaited. The Philippines looks forward to negotiating other bilateral EPAs with other trading partners at the opportune time.
Meanwhile, the country will continue to entertain regional efforts towards economic integration under the ASEAN dialogue partners’ context. The Free trade agreements (FTAs) negotiated will be designed to complement, be of high quality, and consistent with the allowable rules under the multilateral trading system or the WTO.
The Philippines will support ASEAN high-level officials in pushing for the conclusion of ongoing negotiations before undertaking any new FTA negotiations.
Internal Strategies
At the home front, the DTI supports the strengthening of its international trade policy and negotiations arm in the Bureau of International Trade Relations (BITR). The Bureau will be expanded under the DTI’s rationalization plan to enable effective undertaking of the country’s international trade policy and negotiations agenda.
Let me conclude by assuring you that the DTI supports calls for greater transparency in trade policy formulation and in the conduct of international trade negotiations. We will cooperate with all stakeholders in pursuing the country’s trade policy and negotiations agenda consistent with the country’s national interest.
I am sure you will hear many, perhaps even opposing, points of view in the course of this consultation, and that’s absolutely fine. Diversity of points of view is the essence of democracy, just as openness to this diversity is the key to a fair and even-handed agreement.
Beneath this multiplicity of viewpoints are commonalities that bind us. All of us here are united by a single purpose: to build a proud Republic that is inclusive, progressive, globally competitive and highly esteemed by other nations of the world.
If we always keep that in mind, the range of viewpoints and array of perspectives we shall hear from one another will not divide us, but rather enrich our possibilities.
I wish all of us a productive and meaningful consultation. Thank you.
http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dcw4bhp6_0d6zt34gn
http://www.blogger.com/www.philippinechamber.com/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=17&&Itemid=180
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