The Cotonou Agreement and its implications for the regional trade agenda in eastern and southern Africa

Subregional trade arrangements (RTAs) in Eastern and Southern Africa have proliferated in the past 10 to 15 years. The small size of most of the countries in the region, some of which are landlocked, and the security needs in the post independence period largely explain the rapid expansion. These arrangements are characterized by multiple and overlapping memberships, complex structures, and eventually, conflicting and confusing commitments. The influence of RTAs has been limited to assisting the region in increasing trade, attracting foreign direct investment, enhancing growth, and achieving convergence among member countries. But despite their limitations, RTAs have the potential, if properly designed and effectively implemented, to be an important instrument in integrating member countries into global markets. In 1998 most of the Southern African countries, as members of the Africa Caribbean Pacific group (ACP), signed the Cotonou Agreement with the European Union, which includes the negotiation of economic partnership agreements (EPAs) between the EU and the ACP. The Cotonou Agreement explicitly leaves to the ACP countries to decide the level and procedures of the EPA trade negotiations, taking into account the regional integration process. This raises the question of how to decide on the groupings in the context of conflicting regional trade agendas. The author argues that the Cotonou Agreement and EPA negotiations could become the external driving force that will push the regional organizations to rationalize and harmonize their regional trade arrangements, thus strengthening the integration process and economies of the region, and assisting the Eastern and Southern Africa region in becoming a more active partner in the global economy.Rules of Origin,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Trade Policy,Transport and Trade Logistics,TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT,Trade and Regional Integration,Trade Policy,Economic Theory&Research,Rules of Origin

Stabilization and association process in the Banlkans : integration options and their assessment

The stabilization and association process launched by the European Union in the aftermath of the Kosovo war in 1999 has created a new policy environment for five South East European countries (SEE-5). In exchange for EU assistance, the prospect of EU accession, and the continuation of preferential access to EU markets, SEE-5 governments have to upgrade their institutions and governance by European standards and engage in mutual regional cooperation, including stability pact member-countries. The authors examine the benefits to SEE-5 of trade liberalization along two dimensions and suggest conditions under which these could be maximized. They argue that the process of regional trade liberalization should be extended to multilateral liberalization, aligning SEE-5 most-favored-nation (MFN) applied tariffs on industrial products with EU MFN tariffs, and that priority be given to structural reforms and regional cooperation aimed at trade facilitation. As inter-industry trade rather than intra-industry trade dominates intra-SEE-5 trade, the potential for expansion in intra-SEE-5 trade is limited at least within the confines of the existing production structures and transportation infrastructure. Therefore SEE-5 free trade agreements are unlikely to contribute to economic growth without concurrent efforts to improve infrastructure, trade facilitation, business, and investment climate, as well as to increase competition from MFN imports to external preferential suppliers through multilateral liberalization.Rules of Origin,Environmental Economics&Policies,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Economic Theory&Research,Trade Policy,TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT,Environmental Economics&Policies,Trade and Regional Integration,Economic Theory&Research,Rules of Origin

Fundamentos de la hermenéutica de la verosimilitud y sus implicaciones en la hermenéutica del diagnóstico clínico

La hermenéutica de la verosimilitud tiene su fundamento en la búsqueda de la máxima coherencia posible para la interpretación de los elementos de información que están contenidos en las representaciones fenoménicas que aparecen en la comprensión. Tal coherencia permanente resulta ser un camino para el conocimiento y la acción. Se analizan las posibilidades de objetivación racional de la evidencia empírica con la que el médico se enfrenta. Se demostró que la evidencia empírica no es el resultado del consenso interpretativo, pues es sólo la aplicación metódica de la hermenéutica racional, donde el contenido cognitivo implicado en toda su estructura muestra el máximo de coherencia posible. Tal es la hermenéutica de la verosimilitud

Consequences of economic: Partnership agreements between East and Southern African countries and the EU for inter- and intra-regional integration

The European Union is currently negotiating Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with six African, Caribbean and Pacific country groupings, aiming at establishing mutual free trade. This paper empirically assesses the impact of the EPAs on trade flows and government revenues for 22 East and Southern African countries and discusses implications for intra-regional integration. The results indicate that while moderate trade effects can be expected, relatively large budget effects are likely to occur in a number of these countries, exposing them to considerable structural and financial adjustment requirements. Also, EPAs would strengthen the need to consolidate overlapping intra-regional integration schemes. --Economic Partnership Agreement,EU,ACP Countries,East and Southern Africa

The silicon stable isotope distribution along the GEOVIDE section (GEOTRACES GA-01) of the North Atlantic Ocean

The stable isotope composition of dissolved silicon in seawater (δ30SiDSi) was examined at 10 stations along the GEOVIDE section (GEOTRACES GA-01), spanning the North Atlantic Ocean (40–60∘ N) and Labrador Sea. Variations in δ30SiDSi below 500 m were closely tied to the distribution of water masses. Higher δ30SiDSi values are associated with intermediate and deep water masses of northern Atlantic or Arctic Ocean origin, whilst lower δ30SiDSi values are associated with DSi-rich waters sourced ultimately from the Southern Ocean. Correspondingly, the lowest δ30SiDSi values were observed in the deep and abyssal eastern North Atlantic, where dense southern-sourced waters dominate. The extent to which the spreading of water masses influences the δ30SiDSi distribution is marked clearly by Labrador Sea Water (LSW), whose high δ30SiDSi signature is visible not only within its region of formation within the Labrador and Irminger seas, but also throughout the mid-depth western and eastern North Atlantic Ocean. Both δ30SiDSi and hydrographic parameters document the circulation of LSW into the eastern North Atlantic, where it overlies southern-sourced Lower Deep Water. The GEOVIDE δ30SiDSi distribution thus provides a clear view of the direct interaction between subpolar/polar water masses of northern and southern origin, and allow examination of the extent to which these far-field signals influence the local δ30SiDSi distribution

A NEW APPROACH TO CHARACTERIZING FRACTURE NETWORKS: AN ANALYSIS OF NATURAL FRACTURES WITHIN THE STILLWELL ANTICLINE, WEST TEXAS

In the past twenty years, the fracture research field has experienced exponential growth, but there is still debate about how to best sample and characterize natural fracture networks. A vast majority of studies lack a comprehensive evaluation of variables that control fracture behavior, and few studies take into account either fracture aperture or observational bias in the characterization of fracture systems. In addition, most fracture research has been limited to either the microscopic or macroscopic scale. I investigated fracture networks at the transition between the micro- and macroscopic scale at the wellexposed Stillwell anticline in west Texas. The excellent cross-sectional exposure of the asymmetric anticline provided the opportunity to analyze fracture systems within a single limestone bed at different structural positions, including the forelimb, the forelimb hinge, the middle limb, the backlimb hinge, and the backlimb. At each structural position, I measured fractures’ orientation, fill, morphology, length, and aperture within a rectangular observation area. Because observational bias can strongly affect outcrop data, I used a new multi-step method to account for the unequal probability of encountering fractures based on each fracture’s orientation relative to the observation plane and the orientation of each fracture within the rectangular shape of observation area. Based on these relative orientations, I weighted each fracture, assigning an integer-based correction factor. Optical imagery showed that these fracture systems are mostly composed of calcite veins with multiple generations of fracture fill. Statistical data suggest that fracture intensity, aperture, and fracture length data are significantly different at each structural position, and fracture intensity appears to be directly related to strain. In fold hinges, where bed curvature is v greatest, fracture intensities are highest and fracture lengths are lowest. In contrast, in the forelimb, where shear strain is at a maximum, fracture intensity is lowest and fracture lengths are highest. This suggests that fracture initiation and propagation are strongly affected by structural position, which is likely controlled by the how stresses are applied to limestone beds throughout the formation of the fold system. These results demonstrate that analysis of fracture networks at a transitional scale can provide significant insight about fracture systems and their evolution at different positions in a fold system. In many low porosity oil and gas reservoirs, natural fractures control the permeability of the system, so these results might also help predict permeability changes in similar subsurface fold systems

Domain size heterogeneity in the Ising model: geometrical and thermal transitions

A measure of cluster size heterogeneity ($H$), introduced by Lee et al [Phys. Rev. E {\bf 84}, 020101 (2011)] in the context of explosive percolation, was recently applied to random percolation and to domains of parallel spins in the Ising and Potts models. It is defined as the average number of different domain sizes in a given configuration and a new exponent was introduced to explain its scaling with the size of the system. In thermal spin models, however, physical clusters take into account the temperature-dependent correlation between neighboring spins and encode the critical properties of the phase transition. We here extend the measure of $H$ to these clusters and, moreover, present new results for the geometric domains for both $d=2$ and 3. We show that the heterogeneity associated with geometric domains has a previously unnoticed double peak, thus being able to detect both the thermal and percolative transition. An alternative interpretation for the scaling of $H$ that does not introduce a new exponent is also proposed.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure