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Latin America
The Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity has three tracks: trade, foreign affairs, and finance. At a July 17 meeting for the foreign affairs track in Washington, D.C., ministers from the 12 participating countries announced the (1) the creation of the Western Hemisphere Semiconductor Initiative, which “will turbocharge countries’ capacity to assemble, to test, and to package semiconductors, beginning with Mexico, Panama, and Costa Rica,” and (2) a Sept. 5-6 symposium to identify ways to further expand these activities in APEP countries. Ministers also reported progress in recent months on promoting clean hydrogen, respect for the rule of law and transparency, sustainable food production, digital workforce development, and civilian space cooperation.
An APEP finance ministerial was held April 19 and a trade ministerial is expected later this summer.
South Asia
The third meeting of the U.S.-Maldives Trade and Investment Framework Agreement Council was held July 12 in Washington. The two sides highlighted progress on issues related to the protection and enforcement of intellectual property, noted the importance of providing regulatory transparency to enhance the investment climate, and committed to increase cooperation on worker rights, digital trade, and environmental sustainability. The Maldives emphasized its support for digital content creators, artists, and entrepreneurs to capitalize on global commercial platforms and payment system solutions, and it highlighted investment opportunities in the financial, maritime, real estate, and tourism sectors. The U.S. congratulated the Maldives on implementing a majority of its commitments under the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Trade Facilitation and encouraged working with donors on implementation of the outstanding provisions.
At the Fifth U.S.-Sri Lanka Partnership Dialogue held July 12 in Washington, officials reiterated their intent to explore new opportunities to enhance market access, bilateral trade, investment, and tourism. Current initiatives include a $553 million commitment from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation to support the development of the West Container Terminal at the Port of Colombo and a forthcoming five-year activity by the U.S. Agency for International Development to foster inclusive and sustainable agriculture-led economic growth in Sri Lanka.
EU-Turkey
Senior officials from the European Union and Türkiye met recently in Brussels for the first meeting of a High-Level Dialogue on Trade. The two sides noted that Türkiye has resolved a significant number of trade barriers raised by the EU and considered ways to resolve additional priority barriers. They also discussed areas of cooperation that have bearing on the bilateral customs union, including the carbon border adjustment mechanism, digital trade, and trade defense. Finally, officials exchanged views on preventing the circumvention of EU sanctions via the customs union.
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