British officials have been turning to Japan for tips on how to dodge American sanctions on Iran, according to local media.

Britain is already seeking from Washington exemptions from some U.S. sanctions, which are being re-imposed by President Donald Trump because of the U.S. withdrawal earlier this year from a controversial 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran. The British are especially keen to maintain banking links with Iran and to import Iranian oil.

According to local media, U.K. officials have been asking their Japanese counterparts how they managed in the past to sidestep some aspects of the pre-2015 sanctions regime, which allowed Tokyo to sign oil deals with Iran as well as insurance contracts without incurring U.S. penalties.

Re-imposed U.S. sanctions penalize any foreign companies that deal with Iran by barring them from doing business in America. That threat has already persuaded more than 50 Western firms to shutter their operations in Iran, including French automakers Renault and Peugeot and the French oil giant Total as well as Germany’s Deutsche Bahn railway company and Deutsche Telekom.

Seeking waivers

British ministers have publicly announced that they are hoping to secure waivers from sanctions for oil imports, tanker insurance and banking. There is particular concern, say British officials, about the position of a gas field 240 miles from Aberdeen which is jointly owned by BP and a subsidiary of Iran’s state-controlled oil company.

According to The Times newspaper, British diplomats and Treasury officials have discussed with their Japanese counterparts what options they may have of evading penalties, if British firms continue to trade with Iran. Britain’s Foreign Office hasn’t commented on the specific claims in report. But in a general statement it says: “We are working with European and other partners, to ensure Iran continues to benefit from sanctions relief through legitimate business, for as long as Iran continues to meet its nuclear commitments under the deal.”

Faltering Iranian economy

On Tuesday, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani was grilled by the country’s lawmakers, who for the first time in his five-year tenure called him before parliament to answer questions about the country’s faltering economy amid the tightening U.S. sanctions.

They asked him about high unemployment, rising food prices and the collapsing value of the Iranian currency. Rouhani, who overcame the opposition of hardliners in the first place to sign the 2015 nuclear deal with the U.S. and other world powers, insisted Iran would overcome the “the anti-Iranian officials in the White House.”

He added: “We are not afraid of America or the economic problems. We will overcome the troubles.” His answers didn’t reassure lawmakers, who voted to reject most of them. Earlier this month the parliament impeached the economy and labor ministers amid growing anger about the economy.

In order to try to keep open financial channels with Tehran and facilitate Iran’s oil exports, the European Union has taken steps to counter renewed U.S. sanctions, including forbidding EU citizens and firms from complying with them.

The European Commission updated a blocking statute on August 7, which bans companies from observing the sanctions — unless expressly authorized by Brussels to do so. It would allow EU firms to recover damages arising from the sanctions. But many companies say they are fearful of losing current or potential business in the U.S.

“Under these conditions it is very difficult,” according to the Director for International Relations at BusinessEurope, a lobby group, Luisa Santos. She says even small and medium-sized businesses which don’t trade with U.S. will face significant challenges because they will need financing from Western banks.

The first round of U.S. nuclear sanctions on Iran officially snapped back into place earlier this month but the more biting sanctions will be re-imposed on November 4 as Washington seeks to pummel the Iranian economy. The first phase U.S. sanctions prohibit any transactions with Iran involving dollars, gold, precious metals, aluminum, steel, commercial passenger aircraft, shipping and Iranian seaports.

Earlier in August, Woody Johnson, the U.S. ambassador to Britain, cautioned there would be trade consequences for Britain, which he described as the closest U.S. ally, unless London breaks with the EU and abides by the re-imposed sanctions on Tehran.

The envoy also delivered a clear ultimatum to British businesses, instructing them to stop trading with Iran or face “serious consequences.”

Trump’s decision in May to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal, signed by his predecessor Barack Obama, in which Tehran agreed to nuclear curbs in return for sanctions relief, paved the way for the restoration of unilateral American economic penalties on Iran.

The U.S. administration blames Iran for fomenting instability in the Middle East and encouraging terrorism. Trump has described the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as a “horrible, one sided” agreement.

U.S. officials say Iran has used the money going into the country after the 2015 deal, when sanctions were eased, not to improve the lives of ordinary Iranians but to increase spending on the military and proxy forces in the Middle East, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and militants in Yemen.
…

Майже 60% митних експертів з компаній, які входять до Європейської бізнес-асоціації, не помітили зниження корупції – про це свідчать дані опитування, яке ЄБА опублікувала 28 серпня.

Дослідження охоплює період з січня по серпень 2018 року. На основі відповідей підприємців автори вивели Митний індекс – оцінку якості сервісів на митниці. Цього року вона склала 2,91 бали, тоді як у другому півріччі 2017 року становила 3,05 балів, а на початку 2017-го – 2,9.

Так, за висновками дослідників ЄБА:

58,6% опитаних не помітили зміни в рівні корупції на митниці
20,7% вважають, що вона дещо зменшилась
10,3% – що істотно зменшилась
6,9% – що рівень корупції дещо виріс
3,4% – що виріс істотно

При цьому більшість – 44,8% опитаних – скоріше задоволені або цілком задоволені роботою митниці.

Читайте також: «Прикордонники запобігли вивезенню з України старовинної книги – ДПС​»

Говорячи про основні труднощі, пов’язані з проходженням митниці, експерти називають недосконалість системи проходження фітосанітарного, екологічного, радіологічного контролю, а також недоліки в роботі «Єдиного Вікна». 8,6% опитаних не користуються ним взагалі, хоча 37,7% тих, що користуються, цілком задоволені його роботою.

«Бізнес-спільнота сподівається, що питання вдасться врегулювати максимально оперативно і вже осінню буде прийнято законопроект №7010 щодо «єдиного вікна». Адже його ключова мета – зменшити час митного оформлення товарів та зробити митний контроль більш ефективним», – заявляють в Європейській бізнес-асоціації.

Про запровадження системи «єдиного вікна» уряд оголосив ще в 2016 році. В липні 2018 року Верховна Рада ухвалила відповідний законопроект, проте президент Петро Порошенко повернув його до парламенту на доопрацювання.
…

Боротьба з контрабандою протягом перших семи місяців 2018 року принесла до державного бюджету додатково понад 50 мільярдів гривень, повідомив в.о. голови Державної фіскальної служби Мирослав Продан.

За його словами, загалом за цей період ДФС передала до бюджету 395 мільярдів гривень, що на 15% більше, ніж за аналогічний період минулого року.

Він додав, що 216 мільярдів гривень, або додатково майже 19%, спрямовано від податкових платежів, та понад 10% – від митного напрямку.
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Negotiators from Canada and the United States are holding detailed trade negotiations in Washington as they seek to work out a replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The talks come after the United States and Mexico agreed to a bilateral trade deal this week while leaving the door open for Canada to join and preserve what has been a trilateral trade relationship for more than 20 years.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland met with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Tuesday for what she said were “very constructive” initial talks before more specific negotiations between the two sides on Wednesday.

Freeland said some of the details of the U.S.-Mexico agreement, particularly what she called “significant concessions” by Mexico on rules regarding automotive labor and parts origin, have given Canada optimism about the talks in Washington.

“The fact that Mexico was able to do something that I think must have been quite difficult for Mexico and make those concessions does really set the stage for some productive conversations for us here this week.”

It is unclear if the United States and Canada will resolve their long-standing disputes over duties on automobiles and dairy products that have persisted through months of NAFTA negotiations.

Freeland was also due to meet with Mexican trade officials who were still in Washington.

Final details of the U.S.-Mexico deal have yet to be worked out, but Lighthizer said he believes the tentative agreement is a win for both countries that creates more jobs for farmers and other workers.

To escape tariffs, the deal calls for 75 percent of “auto content” – parts and amenities – to be made in either the U.S. or Mexico, up from the current 62.5 percent North American content. In addition, 40 to 45 percent of the auto content must be produced by workers earning $16 or more an hour.

The average hourly pay for U.S. auto workers is more than $22 an hour, but in Mexico it is now less than $3.50 an hour. With the increase in labor costs, it likely will boost the cost of buying a vehicle.

“I think it’s going to modernize the way we do automobile trade, and I think it’s going to set the rules for the future at the highest standards in any agreement yet negotiated by any two nations for things like intellectual property, and digital trade, and financial services trade, and all of the things that we think of as the modernizing, cutting-edge places that our economy is going,” Lighthizer said.

“So this is great for business,” he said. “It’s great for labor. It has terrific labor provisions in it. Stronger and more enforceable labor provisions than have ever been in an agreement by a mile. Not even close.” 

However, lawmakers in both countries still need to approve the pact in the coming months.

Some of the agreement mirrors elements contained in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the 12-nation Pacific Rim trade pact that Mexico and the U.S. both agreed to, before President Donald Trump withdrew the United States. It requires Mexico to allow more collective bargaining for workers and calls for more stringent air quality and marine life protections.

The accord is set to last for six years, at which point the United States and Mexico will review it, and if both sides agree, they would extend it for 16 more years.

But the agreement does not end steel and aluminum tariffs Trump imposed on Mexico earlier this year, leading to Mexican levies on U.S. imports. 

Trade between the U.S. and Mexico totaled an estimated $615.9 billion in 2017, with the U.S. exporting $63.6 billion more in goods and services than it imported.
…

President Donald Trump’s trade deal with Mexico could struggle to win approval from Congress unless Canada comes on board, lawmakers from both parties said on Tuesday, saying support from Democrats would be needed to pass a purely bilateral deal.

Trump unveiled the Mexico deal on Monday and threatened to slap tariffs on Canadian-made cars if Canada did not join the revamp of the trilateral North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which Trump has long criticized.

If Trump, a Republican, tries to get the Senate to vote in favor of a bilateral deal as a replacement for NAFTA, he will face an uphill struggle to win passage, lawmakers said. Some lawmakers said only a trilateral pact would be eligible for fast-track, 51-vote Senate approval.

A bilateral deal, on the other hand, would need 60 votes and that would require some support from Democrats, who likely would be reluctant to help Trump, they said. There are now 50 Republican-held seats in the 100-member Senate.

To get fast-track Senate ratification, “the administration must also reach an agreement with Canada,” said Republican Senator Pat Toomey in a statement.

“NAFTA was a tri-party agreement only made operative with legislation enacted by Congress,” said Toomey, a member of the committee that oversees trade policy.

“Any change, such as NAFTA’s termination, would require additional legislation from Congress. Conversion into a bilateral agreement would not qualify for … ‘fast track’ procedures and would therefore require 60 votes in the Senate.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about fast track treatment for the Mexico deal. Canada’s top trade negotiator arrived in Washington on Tuesday for talks with her Mexican and U.S. counterparts, in a bid to remain part of the trade pact.

Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer said a bilateral deal would face “serious legal concerns,” while he also questioned a lack of details on the terms of the Mexico pact

“I’m a little worried that this one is like North Korea. They have a nice announcement, but then we don’t see the details,” Schumer told reporters in a Capitol hallway. U.S. stock markets surged on Monday after Trump said he had reached an understanding with Mexico. On Tuesday, stocks had given up some of their early gains by the closing bell.

Senator Ron Wyden, the senior Democrat on the trade committee, said: “We know very few details right now. There are real questions about whether this is even enforceable … We are far from being done on this and the fact is you cannot really move this substantively without the Canadians.”

In the House of Representatives, Democrat Bill Pascrell urged Republicans in a statement to convene a bipartisan House trade council to advise the White House.

 
…

Iraq will send a delegation to the United States seeking an agreement on financial transactions with Iran following Washington’s reimposition of sanctions on Tehran, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Tuesday.

His statement was the first by an Iraqi official since Reuters reported last week that Baghdad was going to ask Washington for exemptions from some of the sanctions because Iraq’s economy is closely linked with neighboring Iran.

“We have requests for the American side, we have presented them and a delegation will go to negotiate within that framework,” Abadi told a weekly news conference.

“We have presented a clear vision of what Iraq really needs. This includes Iranian [natural] gas, which is very important, as well as other trade and the electricity sector.”

U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the United States in May from world powers’ 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, calling it flawed, and reimposed trade sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

The Trump administration has warned of consequences for countries including European allies that co-signed the nuclear accord, that do not respect the new sanctions. Baghdad is in a difficult position — its two biggest allies are the United States and Iran, themselves arch-adversaries.

“We have had good promises initially, but as you know the American situation is complicated; you do not deal with one person, there are several institutions,” Abadi said.

He called the sanctions “unilateral” and “oppressive,” adding that Iraq would not be “part of a blockade” due to its own painful experience with international sanctions during the era of Saddam Hussein.

Iraqi government and central bank officials said the delegation would travel to Washington to ask for exemptions in applying the sanctions. They did not say when that trip would take place.
…

Alphabet’s Google said Tuesday that it was partnering with a handful of Indian banks to bring quick loans to the masses, as it aims to woo tens of millions of new internet users in the country to its digital payments services.

At an annual Google event in New Delhi, Caesar Sengupta, vice president of Google’s Next Billion Users initiative, said the move would make banking services accessible to tens of millions of Indians.

Google launched payments app Tez, meaning fast in Hindi, in India last year, integrating it with the state-backed unified payments interface (UPI), as it sought to gain a foothold in the South Asian nation’s digital payments space — which, according to Credit Suisse, will grow fivefold to $1 trillion by 2023.

On Tuesday, Google rebranded the app as Google Pay and said it was partnering with four Indian banks — Federal Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank — to provide instant loans to the app’s users.

“We’re talking to a lot of banks. We’re completely open with whom we work with in terms of banking partners,” Sengupta said in an interview on the sidelines of the event.

“Banks bring their financial capabilities, their understanding of the user, their customers. We bring our user experience, our ability to make complex processes extremely simple and very fast,” he added.

Challenge to Paytm

Google’s ambitions could pose a challenge for homegrown Paytm, backed by Japan’s SoftBank and China’s Alibaba and U.S. conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway. Paytm’s founder, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, and its parent, One97 Communications, run a payments bank, and the payments firm also plans to expand to selling financial products such as insurance and mutual funds in India — the world’s fastest-growing internet services market.

Sengupta said Google was open to collaborating with other Indian payments firms. “We are huge of fans interoperability … when a product like Tez does well, it creates more value in the network for everyone,” he said.

Tez has over 22 million monthly active users, according to Google.

Sengupta said Google also expected the KaiOS mobile operating system, in which the company has invested $22 million, to do well in Africa and parts of Southeast Asia.

KaiOS is a low-cost phone operating system that, among others, has been used by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani to sell his Jio telecom venture’s low-cost internet enabled phones.

Countries like India, with so many people coming online for the first time, “generate an incredible amount of opportunity for innovation,” Sengupta said.
…

НБУ вперше із січня встановив офіційний курс національної валюти щодо американської на рівні понад 28 гривень за долар. На 29 серпня курс становитиме 28 гривень 5 копійок за долар.

Це на 17 копійок більше, ніж показник на 28 серпня.

Згідно з повідомленнями учасників валютного ринку, регулятор встиг у розпал попиту на валюту продати долар за курсом 28 гривень 10 копійок без офіційного оголошення аукціону. Згодом свої значні обсяги запропонували експортери, і торги на міжбанківському валютному ринку завершилися на нижчому рівні – попит на рівні 27 гривень 99 копійок за долар, пропозиція – 28 гривень 3 копійки.
…

Київська міська державна адміністрація просить Кабінет міністрів виділити субвенцію у розмірі 729 мільйонів гривень для укладання нового договору з «Нафтогазом» про постачання газу, повідомив заступник голови КМДА Петро Пантелеєв.

За його словами, напрацьований спільно з НАК алгоритм про правонаступництво комунальним підприємством «Київтеплоенерго» боргів компанії «Київенерго» передбачає списання штрафу, а також балансування заборгованості споживачів перед «Київенерго» та боргів енергокомпанії перед «Нафтогазом».

«Також є зобов’язання держави перед «Київенерго» за компенсацію різниці у тарифах у минулих періодах – 729 мільйонів гривень. Погашення державою своїх боргів дасть змогу вирішити питання балансування боргів та списання штрафних санкцій», – пояснив заступник голови КМДА.

Вирішення цього питання, яке Кабмін має розглянути на засіданні 29 серпня, дасть можливість відновити газопостачання та гаряче водопостачання у Києві, а також підготуватися до опалювального сезону, зазначають в КМДА.

«Якщо рішення Кабміну буде ухвалене, то планова дата укладення договору з «Нафтогазом» – 15-16 вересня», – сказав П.Пантелеєв.

Читайте також: Київ майже вдвічі переплатить за газ – «Нафтогаз України»

Раніше КМДА погодилась успадкувати заборгованість «Київенерго» перед Нафтогазом та повідомила про те, що підпише з компанією мирову угоду.

19 липня Господарський суд Києва ухвалив рішення не перекладати борги компанії Ріната Ахметова «Київенерго» за спожитий газ перед НАК «Нафтогаз України» на новостворене комунальне підприємство «Київтеплоенерго». У «Київенерго» заявляли про намір оскаржити це рішення.

З 1 травня 2018 року теплові мережі та котельні Києва перейшли від компанії «Київенерго» мільярдера Ріната Ахметова в управління комунального підприємства «Київтеплоенерго».

Наприкінці травня влада Києва повідомила, що «Нафтогаз» відмовляється укладати договір на поставку газу з «Київтеплоенерго» через борги попереднього оператора «Київенерго» (загальна сума заборгованості становить близько 5 мільярдів гривень). У відповідь на це Київрада ухвалила рішення, згідно з яким боргові зобов’язання «Київенерго» не підлягають передачі «Київтеплоенерго».

«Нафтогаз» у свою чергу заявив, що готовий укласти договір на поставку газу одразу після вирішення питання правонаступництва заборгованості.
…

«Якщо вони оголошують про приїзд місії, це означає, що шанси на позитивний перегляд достатньо високі»
…

The United States and Mexico agreed on Monday to a sweeping trade deal that pressures Canada to accept new terms on autos trade, dispute settlement and agriculture to keep the trilateral North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the White House was ready to notify the U.S. Congress by Friday of President Donald Trump’s intent to sign the bilateral document, but that it was open to Canada joining the pact.

The 24-year-old NAFTA is a trilateral deal between the United States, Canada and Mexico that underpins $1.2 trillion in North American Trade.

Here are some of the main issues at the heart of the negotiations:

Autos Dominate

The new deal requires 75 percent of the value of a vehicle to be produced in the United States or Mexico, up from the NAFTA threshold of 62.5 percent.

The higher threshold is aimed at keeping more parts from Asia out, boosting North American automotive manufacturing and jobs. Even if more plants are built in Mexico, jobs will grow in the United States due to high levels of integration, with studies showing that U.S. parts make up 40 percent of the value of every Mexican-built car exported to the United States.

The pact also requires greater use of U.S. and Mexican steel, aluminum, glass and plastics.

The provision started out as a U.S. demand for 85 percent regional content, with 50 percent coming from U.S. factories.

That plan was vehemently opposed by Mexico, Canada and the auto industry. It later morphed into the U.S.-Mexico deal’s requirement of 40 to 45 percent of a vehicle’s value to be made in high wage areas paying at least $16 an hour, requiring significant automotive production in the United States.

Although full automotive details have not yet been released, auto industry officials say it will allow Trump the ability to impose higher national security tariffs on vehicles that do not comply with the new thresholds.

Most Mexican auto exports are in a position to comply with the new limits, the country’s economy minister said.

No Sunset

Trump backed off from an initial U.S. demand for a “sunset” clause that would kill the pact unless it was renegotiated every five years and which businesses said would stymie long term investment in the region.

Canada and Mexico were strictly opposed to the clause.

Instead, the United States and Mexico agreed to a 16-year lifespan for NAFTA, with a review every six years that can extend the pact for 16 years more, providing more business certainty.

Dispute Settlement

Mexico agreed to eliminate a settlement system for anti-dumping disputes, NAFTA’s Chapter 19.

The move, sought by the United States, puts Canada in a difficult position because Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had insisted on maintaining Chapter 19 as a way to fight U.S. duties on softwood lumber, paper and other products that it views as unfair. Ottawa now has less than a week to decide to accept a deal without that provision.

A settlement system for disputes between investors and states was scaled back, now only for expropriation, favoritism for local firms and state-dominated sectors such as oil, power and infrastructure.

Agriculture, Labor

The new deal will keep tariffs on agricultural products traded between the United States and Mexico at zero and seeks to support biotech and other innovations in agriculture. It lacks a previous U.S. demand to erect trade barriers to protect seasonal U.S. fruit and vegetable growers from Mexican competition.

It contains enforceable labor provisions that require Mexico to adhere to International Labor Organization labor rights standards in an effort to drive Mexican wages higher.

Now Canada

The U.S.-Mexico NAFTA deal opens the door for Canada to immediately rejoin the talks and is a major step forward in updating the accord.

Canada, which sat out the last leg of discussions while the United States and Mexico ironed out their bilateral differences, is now pressured to agree to the new terms on auto trade and other issues to remain part of the three-nation pact.

Trump has presented this as a bilateral deal and threatened Canada with car tariffs. Some lawmakers have said that a bilateral deal would face a higher vote threshold in Congress because the NAFTA fast-track negotiating authority law calls for a trilateral agreement.
…

Mexican president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador welcomed a deal between Mexico and the United States to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that he said preserved Mexican “sovereignty” in the energy sector.

The U.S.-Mexico deal was announced by U.S. President Trump on Monday, putting pressure on Canada to agree to new terms and details that were only starting to emerge. Lopez Obrador said it was important that Canada be part of the deal.

Lopez Obrador, who is scheduled to take office on Dec. 1, said Trump “understood our position” and accepted his incoming administration’s proposals on the energy sector. The text of the new agreement has not yet been made public.

“We put the emphasis on defending national sovereignty on the energy issue and it was achieved,” Lopez Obrador told reporters after arriving in the southern state of Chiapas.

“We are satisfied because our sovereignty was saved. Mexico reserves the right to reform its constitution, its energy laws, and it was established that Mexico’s oil and natural resources belong to our nation,” he said.

Lopez Obrador opposed a constitutional change pushed through by Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto that opened production and exploration in the energy sector to private capital.

Mexico has already awarded more than 100 oil exploration and production contracts to private companies.

Lopez Obrador has said he would pour resources into state oil company Pemex while still respecting private sector contracts, as long as a review does not find evidence of corruption.

He is expected to slow down or stall the process of offering more contracts to private players.

Jesus Seade, Lopez Obrador’s designated chief NAFTA negotiator, participated in the latest talks between the current Mexican administration and the U.S. Trade Representative to strike the new NAFTA agreement.

Seade said on Monday that both Pena Nieto’s team and the United States had agreed to change language in a draft proposal of the NAFTA overhaul on energy that had previously been a “cut and paste” from the text of Mexico’s energy reform.

The new language still preserved the same ideas and was consistent with Pena Nieto’s reform, Seade said, adding that Lopez Obrador was not seeking to change the legal framework for private energy projects in Mexico.

While the new administration planned to increase production at Pemex, Seade told a news conference in Washington “there will be areas where cooperation with the private sector is needed.”
…

Toyota will invest half a billion dollars into ride-sharing giant Uber as part of a deal for the two companies to work together on developing self-driving vehicles. 

Toyota, one of the world’s largest car makers, is seen as lagging behind other companies, including General Motors and Google’s Waymo, in the autonomous-vehicle race. 

Uber has already begun testing self-driving vehicles, but was forced to remove hundreds of autonomous cars from the road in March after one of its test vehicles struck and killed a pedestrian on a street in Tempe, Arizona. 

The deal between Uber and Toyota is an indication that Uber does not want to go it alone in creating the complex, autonomous driving systems. 

Self-driving cars have always been important to Uber, which sees them as a way to reduce the cost of carrying passengers. Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick had insisted on developing a proprietary self-driving system, however current CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has been working to develop more partnerships for the company. 

Uber has been doing safety evaluations since the March crash that killed a 49-year-old woman as she walked her bicycle across the street. The company took a step in July toward relaunching its vehicle testing in Pittsburgh, putting its self-driving cars back on the road in manual mode. 

Toyota has been cautious in its approach to self-driving vehicles and has focused on partial autonomous systems. However, the company says it plans to begin testing self-driving electric cars around 2020. 

Both companies aim to work together to solve the huge challenge of how to design and mass produce self-driving cars, which use computers, cameras and sensors to guide the vehicles.

Proponents of the new technology argue that self-driving cars will prove to be safer than human drivers because the cars will not get distracted and will obey all traffic laws.

Critics have expressed concern about the technology’s safety, including the ability of the autonomous technology to deal with unpredictable events.
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Україна подала апеляцію на рішення групи експертів Світової організації торгівлі (СОТ) щодо спору з Російською Федерацією про обмеження на постачання до РФ залізничних вагонів і стрілочних переводів, повідомляється на сайті СОТ.

Зазначається, що апеляція на рішення СОТ щодо суперечки між Україною і Росією була подана 27 серпня.

«27 серпня Україна подала апеляцію щодо панельного звіту СОТ у справі України проти Росії «Росія – заходи, що впливають на імпорт залізничного обладнання та їх частин» (DS499). Група поширила свою доповідь 30 липня 2018 року», – йдеться в повідомленні.

Наприкінці липня 2018 року група експертів СОТ «частково підтримала» позицію України в справі проти Росії щодо обмеження імпорту залізничного обладнання, повідомила прес-служба Міністерства економічного розвитку.

У відомстві зазначили, що група експертів підтвердила порушення Росією окремих положень Генеральної угоди з тарифів і торгівлі 1994 року та Угоди про технічні бар’єри у торгівлі.

Згідно з повідомленням, у межах справи Україна доводила, що призупинення дії сертифікатів відповідності (14 приписів) та неприйняття до розгляду заявки на проведення сертифікації (3 рішення) призвело до дискримінації, невиправданих перешкод у торгівлі та недотримання встановленої процедури оцінки відповідності товару.

Група експертів погодилася з Україною, що видавши 14 приписів про призупинення сертифікатів відповідності, Росія застосувала процедуру оцінки відповідності таким чином, що умови доступу до ринку для українських, російських та європейських виробників залізничної продукції, були не однаковими, дискримінаційними для України.

Крім того, група експертів підтвердила, що Росія порушила свої зобов’язання (відповідно до статті III:4 ГАТТ 1994 (Національний режим) стосовно невизнання сертифікатів, виданих українським виробникам в інших країнах Митного союзу, що це, у свою чергу, створює переваги для національних виробників.

Також група експертів СОТ визнала, що Росія порушила зобов’язання за статтею I:1 ГАТТ 1994 (Загальний режим найбільшого сприяння). Україною було доведено, що Росією неправомірно не визнаються сертифікати, видані в інших країнах Митного союзу, якщо такі товари не виробляються в Митному союзі.

Водночас група експертів не підтвердила існування систематичного обмеження імпорту з боку Росії, посилаючись на те, що протягом певного періоду часу (квітень 2014 – грудень 2016) ситуація в Україні в частині безпеки була непорівняною із ситуацією в інших країнах.

«Тобто Росією не проводився інспекційний контроль через наявність на території України «антиросійських настроїв та загрози безпеці російським громадянам», які є наслідком військових дій, які Росія сама і розв’язала», – пояснили у відомстві.

Справа відкрита у 2015 році за скаргою України.
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Ethiopia has ousted state-run Metals and Engineering Corporation (METEC) from a $4 billion dam project on the River Nile due to numerous delays in completing the project.

The Grand Renaissance Dam is the centerpiece of Ethiopia’s bid to become Africa’s biggest power exporter.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said at the weekend that the government had cancelled the contract of METEC, which is run by Ethiopia’s military, and would award it to another company.

Italian firm Salini Impregilo remains the main contractor building the dam, while METEC was the contractor for the electromechanical and hydraulic steel structure divisions of the project.

The government has touted the 6,000-megawatt dam project, which is 60 percent finished, as a symbol of its economic reforms.

“It is a project that was supposed to be completed within five years, but seven or eight years later not a single turbine is operational,” Abiy said during a news conference in Addis Ababa on Saturday.

“Salini has even demanded compensation because of the delays. We decided to cancel a contract with METEC and offer companies with experience. Otherwise, it will take even longer,” he said.

Abiy has presided over a series of reforms since coming to power in April, releasing political prisoners, relaxing state control of the economy and dramatically improving relations with Ethiopia’s neighbor Eritrea.

The government had previously said the dam would be completed within two years, but recently Abiy said it may face a lengthy delay.

An official at METEC, who did not wish to be named, said the company first heard of the cancellation on Saturday.

“Even now our workers are on the site,” the official said.
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