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Egypt,
Israel, U.S. sign historical trade agreement
(Note: Zoellick is a
busy beaver, hard at work "inking" globalism. His job title,
"U.S. Trade Representative", seems a bit at odds with his
actions, which appear to be those of a Global/UN Trade Representative. rzoellick@ustr.gov
or 202-395-6890; Fax: 202-395-3911; 600 17th Street NW, Washington DC
20508. Additional interesting reading on this topic: http://www.propertyrightsresearch.org/2004/articles2/your_australian_free_trade_agree.htm Language
deception words and phrases are underlined below.) December 14, 2004 Cairo, Egypt (Xinhuanet)
- Egypt, the United States and Israel here Tuesday signed a historical
agreement on trade and industry, which is also be seen as the
first strategic partnership accord between Egypt and Israel since
they sealed a peace treaty in 1979, a Xinhua correspondent reported on
the scene. The Qualified
Industrial Zones (QIZs) agreement was inked by Egyptian Minister of
Foreign Trade and Industry Rasheed Mohamed Rasheed, U.S. Trade
Representative Robert Zoellick and Israeli Vice Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert. Under the agreement, certain
Egyptian goods with Israeli input at the minimum of 11.7 percent will be
exported to the United States without paying any customs duty.
Zoellick, who arrived
in Cairo on Sunday, said it is the most important economic accord to
be signed by the two neighbors since they signed the landmark treaty 25
years ago. Rasheed said that the
accord is an "important step towards consolidating our economic
relations," which "would contribute positively to regional
prosperity and in achieving a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle
East." Olmert said, "It's
good business for us, more important for the dream in changing the
atmosphere in the Middle East. This is a good business for Israel, it is
a good business for Egypt and a good business for the U.S." The zones will be
set up in seven places across Egypt, including Greater Cairo,
Alexandria and the Suez Canal Zone with an industrial area of Port Said.
The United
States established the QIZ program in 1996 with an aim to enable
the Arab countries to export products duty-free to the United States --
provided they contain input from Israel. The United States has
been discussing with Israel and Egypt their specific QIZs request since
September. Until now, QIZs have
been established only in Jordan in the Arab world. Copyright 2003, Xinhua
News Agency. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-12/14/content_2333715.htm Additional
researched, recommended reading on this topic: April 19, 2004 Jordan Times Exports from Qualified Industrial
Zones rise 54% http://www.jordanembassyus.org/04192004005.htm ===== U.S.
International Trade Commission Letter dated March 3,
1998 Declassified January
26, 2004 This document is still
censored from the public in places, marked with asterisks. It bears a
careful read (should be read by all who value American economic health
and American sovereignty). http://63.173.254.11/pub3671/pub3671_I.pdf ===== U.S. Economic
and Trade Policy in the Middle East - Hearing before the Committee on
Finance, United States Senate, 108th Congress, Second Session (Note: A "Middle
East Partnership Initiative" is mentioned as well as the
"United Nations Arab Human Development Report.) March 10, 2004 Pages 3/7, 9/13
(depending on which page numbers you are viewing on this document) are
MOST interesting and illustrate how very little American economic
viability means to most of this U.S. Senate Committee and others
involved in these dealings. S.1121 is something
that Zoellick really likes ("a good initiative") Hewlett-Packard is
HEAVILY INVOLVED in these dealings (it stands to make MORE PROFIT from
places with low wages); I highly recommend that everyone with an
interest in how our freedom and jobs are being traded on the altar of
global control, please, read this entire document, which is only 53/57
pages. It is well worth the read and better than any spy or adventure
novel you could read -- because this is real-time and non-fiction. http://finance.senate.gov/hearings/94100.pdf ===== Jordan Free
Trade Agreement Hearing before the Committee on Finance, United States
Senate (spelled with all capital letters to denote a
business, not a body, in original document; use of upper and lower case
is for ease in reading / less eye strain), 107th Congress, First Session (Note: Why
would, among many others, the president of Defenders of Wildlife, no
less, be a public witness at this hearing? Why, he and his NGO
are in favor of this "FTA" - "free" trade agreement
AND the MOU -- Memorandum of Understanding! Also, the special advisor to
the United Nations on Globalization spoke at this hearing, mentioning
"multilateral free trade". Red
Flag!) March 20, 2001 http://www.senate.gov/~finance/73013.pdf ===== Exports to Arab states up 53% in
January-September to $135 million - (Note: The middlemen have learned
how to make even more money...) November 22, 2004 Globes' correspondent. Israeli Watch - Israeli Economy
Archives These figures do not include
$9 million in indirect exports through third countries, carried
out by joint ventures of Israeli and Arab countries.
The Israel Export and International
Cooperation Institute today reported that most of the increase was
thanks to a 63% increase in exports to Jordan, and an 8% increase in
exports to Egypt. Exports to Jordan totaled $100.7 million, mainly
textiles and clothing, wood and furniture, and paper and printing
products. Imports from Jordan rose by 27% in January-September to $39
million. Exports to Egypt totaled $22 million
in January-September, mostly chemicals and refined oil products, and
textiles and clothing. Imports from Egypt rose by 29% to $22.4 million. Export Institute director Yechiel
Assia attributed most of the increase to increased exports to
Jordan, thanks to the expansion of Qualified Industrial Zones (QIZ)
that export joint Israeli-Jordanian products, mostly textiles and
clothing, to the U.S., duty free. On the basis of Export Institute
figures, Assia predicted that continued calm in security would boost
exports to Arab countries in the coming months. Exports to Morocco rose by 5% in
January-September to $6.7 million, mostly chemicals and refined oil
products. Imports from Morocco rose by 20% to $1.2 million. Exports to
the Gulf states rose by 143% in January-September to $1.7 million,
mostly machinery and telecommunications equipment. Israel imported
nothing from the Gulf states. Exports to Tunisia totaled only
$700,000 in January-September, mostly chemicals and refined oil
products, and Israel had no imports from that country. Exports to
Lebanon totaled a negligible $100,000, mostly medical and surgical
equipment and chemicals products. Israel had no imports from Lebanon. Published by Globes online. http://israeli.menj.org/archives/cat_israeli_economy.php ===== Qualified Industrial Zones (QIZ) Embassy of the Hashem Kingdom of
Jordan, Washington, D.C. Economic and Commerce Bureau
Frequently Asked Questions
about the Qualifying Industrial Zones (QIZ)
A: In
1996 the U.S. Congress established the Qualifying Qualified Industrial
Zones (QIZ) initiative to support the peace process in the Middle East.
These zones are industrial parks in Jordan or Israel from which goods
can be exported duty free to the United States. Q: What are the advantages for
QIZ production? A: The QIZ initiative's greatest
advantage is that it provides duty-free access to the United States, the
world's largest consumer market. In addition, there are currently
no U.S. import quotas on clothes or textiles manufactured in Jordan. Q: How many QIZs are there?
A: The United States Government has
designated ten industrial parks in Jordan as QIZS: the Gateway QIZ on
the northern Jordan-Israel border; the Al-Hassan Industrial Estate in
Irbid; the Al-Tajamouat Industrial Estate in Amman; the Ad-Dulayl
Industrial Park near Zarka, the Kerak Industrial Estate, Aqaba
Industrial Estate, Jordan Cyber City in Irbid, Al-Qastal Industrial Zone
in Amman, Mushatta International Complexin Amman, and El-Zai Readywear
Manufacturing Co. in Zarqa. The Al-Hassan Industrial Estate in
Irbid, operated by the Jordan Industrial Estates Corporation (JIEC) is
the first fully operational QIZ. Several companies there are
already exporting to the U.S. under QIZ rules. More information
about the JIEC and their QIZ operations in Irbid, Kerak and Aqaba can be
obtained from their web site at WWW.JIEC.COM
Q: How much would an
investor save by manufacturing in a QIZ?
A. The immediate saving is the
amount of the U.S. tariff on any specified good. Generally
speaking, U.S. tariffs on clothing and textile goods are relatively
high, which makes production of these goods in QIZs especially
attractive. Investors can get specific information on U.S.
Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) rates from the U.S. Customs Service
interactive database at WWW.ITDS.TREAS.GOV/ITDS
Q: Which agency of the U.S.
Government designates industrial parks as QIZS?
A: The Office of the United States
Trade Representative (USTR), in consultation with other U.S. Government
agencies, designates QIZS. More information can be obtained from
the USTR website at WWW.USTR.GOV.
Q: How long will the QIZ
initiative last? A: The QIZ initiative does not
have any expiration date. It does not need to be renewed by
Congress every few years like the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP)
or other trade legislation. Q: What is the primary
requirement for obtaining duty free treatment?
A: The product must be a
"substantially transformed" good, with at least 35 percent of
its value added in Israel, a Jordanian QIZ or the West Bank/Gaza.
Of that 35 percent, a minimum of 11.7 percent must be added in a
Jordanian QIZ, eight percent in Israel, and the remaining 15.3 percent
can come from either a Jordanian QIZ, Israel or the West Bank/Gaza. QUALIFYING A
PRODUCT Q: How does
the FTA affect the Qualified Industrial Zones (QIZ) initiative?
A: The FTA does not supersede
or eliminate the QIZ initiative. The QIZ initiative currently
grants immediate tariff and quota-free access to the U.S. market to
goods that are produced in the QIZ’s and meet specific rules of origin
requirements. Under the FTA, tariffs and quotas for many goods are
phased out over time, and rules of origin require 35% Jordanian content.
Thus for some high-tariff goods, producing in QIZ’s will retain an
advantage. For instance, many apparel goods
face U.S. tariffs of up to 30%. Under the FTA, tariffs on these
goods would be reduced over ten years, and Jordanian exports would have
to meet the 35% Jordanian content level. Under the QIZ initiative,
those same goods would enjoy immediate elimination of tariffs and
quotas, and would require a lower level of Jordanian inputs. Thus
in this case, QIZ-produced products would enjoy a comparative advantage. A: A committee consisting of
Jordanian and Israeli government officials determines whether products
are eligible for duty-free treatment. The manufacturer must
provide detailed information about the costs of materials and labor to
prove that the product fulfills QIZ production requirements. Q: How does the U.S. Customs
Service know that a product comes from a QIZ and qualifies for duty free
entry into the U.S? A: Once the product has been
approved by the Jordanian/Israeli committee, the shipper and/or importer
is allowed to put an "N" before the product's HTS number on
the customs invoice. This alerts the U.S. Customs Service that the
goods come from a QIZ. Q: Where can I get answers about
whether a specific product meets the requirements for duty-free entry?
A: Technical questions can be
addressed in writing to: Be sure to include complete
information about manufacturing processes, the origin of inputs and
other details relevant to determining whether the product qualifies for
duty-free treatment. Q: Who can assist in helping my
company set up a plant in Jordan?
A: The Jordan Investment Board (JIB)
is a good place to start. The JIB can be contacted through its
website at www.jordaninvestment.com,
by phone at (962) (6) 553 1081/2 or by fax at (962) (6) 552-1084.
JIB professionals can provide briefings on Jordan's business climate,
and investment incentives, and arrange visits to the various QIZ sites
in Jordan. http://www.jordanembassyus.org/new/commercial/qiz.shtml ===== Qualified
Industrial Zones February 1, 2002 (excerpt) "We have taken
some concrete steps during this visit. For example, during the
meeting the esteemed President [Bush] had with us, he
personally has encouraged more Americans to visit Turkey. We
have mentioned our desire to establish Qualified Industrial Zones,
a model that is successfully implemented by Israel and Jordan in their
relationship with America. We said that a similar development would be
beneficial and that we have deserved it. They told us that they
would pay special attention to our request. This of course
pleased us very much. In sum, what was missing from our already
very advanced strategic cooperation, that is, economic and trade issues,
are now also brought to our agenda. This is naturally a very
pleasing development." http://www.theturkishtimes.com/archive/02/02_01/ ===== U.S. Free-Trade
Deals Include Few Muslim Countries December 3, 2004 By Paul Blustein, The
Washington Post Trade Observatory,
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) http://www.tradeobservatory.org/index.cfm The
war on terrorism was high on the mind of U.S. Trade Representative
Robert B. Zoellick as he signed a free-trade agreement with the Persian
Gulf kingdom of Bahrain in mid-September. "A contest for the soul
of Islam" is raging, and "we can help" by striking trade
deals that generate jobs and reduce poverty, Zoellick said. But
Bahrain, an island nation with a population of 678,000, is an exception
in securing access to the giant U.S. market. Excluding oil, imports from
Muslim countries have increased by just 3.2 percent since 2000, their
growth suppressed by tariffs of 20 percent or more on key goods such as
textiles, according to an analysis of U.S. trade statistics. Meanwhile,
countries in the Andean region, sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere --
granted preferential, duty-free access to the U.S. market -- have
enjoyed a comparative boom, with exports to the United States rising
nearly 40 percent in some cases. The
figures reflect a bias in U.S. trade rules that work against strategic
allies such as Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey. Under current rules, for
example, T-shirts made in Lesotho or Peru or El Salvador come into the
country duty-free, while shirts from Turkey or Pakistan are hit with a
20 percent tariff. Looking at trade statistics in light of the 2001
terrorist attacks, some analysts question whether U.S. trade policy is
adequately backing the country's national security goals. "It
is hard to argue that the greater Muslim world is of less strategic
interest to the U.S. than the Andean region or sub-Saharan Africa,"
said Brink Lindsey, vice president for research at the Cato Institute, a
free-market-oriented think tank. "Our de facto discrimination
against Muslim imports sends a terrible signal, and indicates we're just
not putting our money where our mouth is, in terms of using every lever
at our disposal to make this a safer world." The
Bush administration has hardly been stingy in providing financial
assistance to its less-wealthy allies, particularly those in the
forefront of confronting Muslim radicalism. Washington last year helped
put together a $3 billion, five-year aid package for Pakistan, and
engineered the recent deal among rich nations to forgive 80 percent of
the $38 billion owed to them by Iraq. But
when it comes to trade, officials of some Muslim nations complain that
the United States is failing to provide meaningful export opportunities
because of protectionist pressure from U.S. industries. "Having
enhanced market access would be of enormous benefit to Pakistan,"
Humayun Akhtar Khan, Pakistan's commerce minister, said in an interview
this fall. "The European Union has been much more forthcoming"
than the United States in granting trade concessions over the past
couple of years, he said. "We need help from our friends." Khan
estimated that every $1 billion in exports yields 200,000 jobs and
supports 1 million Pakistanis. "Trade is a much more cost-effective
way [than aid] to help a country," he said. The
United States has free-trade agreements with Jordan, Morocco and
Bahrain, and has begun negotiations for similar deals with Oman and the
United Arab Emirates -- smaller Arab countries whose industries would
pose little threat to U.S. manufacturers. But
the United States has specifically rejected granting trade concessions
to Pakistan and Turkey, larger countries that are felt to be critical to
the anti-terrorism effort. After the 2001 attacks, both countries asked
for the right to export more textiles to the United States, hoping to
bolster an industry important to economic growth, and which employs
about 60 percent of Pakistan's industrial workforce. Both were turned
down. Negotiations for a free-trade agreement with Egypt, meanwhile,
have stalled. According
to calculations by Edward Gresser, a trade specialist at the Democratic
Party-affiliated Progressive Policy Institute, those decisions and
tariff policies kept growth in non-oil imports from Muslim nations to
3.2 percent from 2000 to 2003. For example, imports from Indonesia, a
hot spot of fundamentalism and the world's most populous Muslim country,
fell to $9.1 billion from $9.8 billion from 2000 to 2003, though they
appear on track to bounce back this year. Gresser examined U.S. trade
statistics at The Washington Post's request. Some
key non-Muslim countries did not fare well either. While the Philippines
has been battling an Muslim insurgent group with U.S. assistance,
imports from the country other than oil fell from $13.7 billion to $10
billion from 2000 to 2003. The
past few years were ones of sluggish growth generally for global trade.
Overall, non-oil imports by the United States rose only 2.1 percent
since 2000. From that perspective, the imports from Muslim countries
fared better than the norm. But
trade rules also appeared to be a factor. Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and
Colombia can export most goods to the United States duty-free under the
Andean Trade Preference Act, and imports from those countries jumped 16
percent. Central American nations, given preferential access to the
United States under the Caribbean Basin Initiative, enjoyed an increase
of around 5 percent. Imports from the 38 sub- Saharan countries covered
by the African Growth and Opportunity Act, meanwhile, rose 39 percent. The
U.S. reluctance to grant concessions may soon have even more adverse
consequences, Lindsey said, when international textile and apparel
quotas expire on Jan. 1. Once
the quota system expires, creating more of a free-for-all in the
industry, China is expected to grab an enormous share of the global
textile and apparel market. India is also poised to vastly expand its
share. Many developing countries fear that the only way their industries
can survive Chinese competition is with preferential tariffs that give
them a price advantage in the United States and Europe. "Many
countries in the Muslim world are facing a trade shock" when the
quotas are lifted, Lindsey said. A
senior State Department official said that although "it's certainly
true that some countries are going to have difficulties as quotas come
off," Pakistan and Turkey are unlikely to be hit hard. Many
industry experts forecast that Pakistan and Turkey will be among the
winners in a quota-free world, because of their competitiveness and, in
Turkey's case, its proximity to the European market. Pakistani
and Turkish officials question whether such optimism is justified, and
other populous Muslim countries -- Egypt, Bangladesh and Indonesia, for
example -- could well be among the losers. Already, Muslim countries
have suffered in competition with the Chinese in products such as baby
clothes, for which quotas have been eliminated. According to Gresser,
the share of U.S. imports of such goods from the Muslim world dropped
from 16 percent in 2001 to 11 percent in 2003, and appears headed still
lower this year. The
Bush administration says it hopes to reach a free-trade agreement with
Egypt, but only after the government there shifts from its long-standing
policies of protectionism and heavy government control of its economy.
More ambitiously, President Bush in May 2003 announced plans to join the
nations of the Middle East -- including Israel -- in a free-trade
arrangement by 2013. In
an interview, Zoellick said that the proposed Middle East Free Trade
Area (MEFTA) has already sparked progress toward free markets and the
rule of law in Arab countries that are prospective participants. In
countries that are not yet members of the World Trade Organization,
including Saudi Arabia and Algeria, the United States is trying to help
make the economic policy changes necessary for entry. With Qatar and
eight other nations, the United States has negotiated "trade and
investment framework agreements," which set broad principles for
bilateral commercial ties. For the nations most advanced in changing
their economic policies, free-trade agreements are in order. "MEFTA
is designed so we can customize our engagement based on their state of
development," Zoellick said. Critics
point out that MEFTA would not cover countries such as Pakistan,
Bangladesh and Indonesia, and they view it as too much of a drawn-out
process. "If the administration gets what it says it wants, the
benefits won't be phased in, in a meaningful way, until something like
2020, so whatever good is to come of this initiative is a long way
off," Gresser said. In
Gresser's view, Washington should unilaterally grant duty-free status to
goods from Muslim countries -- if they are allies in the war on
terrorism -- and be patient until those nations are ready to lower their
trade barriers. That idea was incorporated into legislation introduced
last year by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.),
known as the "Silk Road Bill." The
model for that approach is Jordan. In the mid-1990s, the country was
allowed to ship goods -- mostly clothing -- duty-free to the United
States from "qualified industrial zones," if the goods had a
modest amount of Israeli content, such as zippers. The zones helped
boost Jordanian exports to the United States from $16 million in 1998 to
$673 million last year. They provide jobs to more than 30,000 people,
helping to hold down Jordan's high unemployment. Bush
administration officials have declined to support the Silk Road Bill,
partly reflecting the clout of the U.S. textile industry. It has lost
hundreds of thousands of jobs in the past several years, and its
executives have long warned that opening the U.S. market further would
create even more unemployment among people who typically lack job skills
or higher education. The
support of lawmakers from the Carolinas, where the U.S. textile industry
is concentrated, is essential to pass almost any controversial trade
legislation. If the administration were to propose giving Muslim
countries tariff-free access for their textiles, textile-state
legislators would almost certainly unite to block it and other trade
bills the White House hopes to enact. "In
addition to the politics, there are policy issues," Zoellick said
in explaining the administration's lack of support for granting
unilateral concessions to Muslim countries. "You really want to
work toward greater two-way trade," which can make economies more
competitive. Moreover, bilateral free-trade agreements of the sort
Washington negotiates typically require partner countries to enforce the
rule of law more faithfully. The
U.S. industry's power was also evident in the administration's tepid
response to Egypt's recent request to establish a number of Jordan-like
qualified industrial zones. Egypt is entitled to set them up, but the
Egyptian government has long resisted them because of the requirement
for Israeli participation. When Egypt finally said a couple of months
ago that it wanted to take advantage of the program, the Bush
administration sought to limit the number of Egyptian zones, drawing
sharp criticism from free-trade advocates. U.S.
and Egyptian officials said they expect an agreement on the issue by
year-end. Gresser
argued that a more comprehensive approach is needed that would grant
quick trade benefits to the entire Muslim world. He said that while some
"frontline" countries such as Pakistan benefit from programs
meant to encourage trade with developing nations, those programs
typically exclude industries that employ the most people. Among
Pakistan's top 100 exports to the United States, for example, only five
currently qualify for duty-free treatment -- gold jewelry, flags,
molasses, swords and toenail clippers. In
general, Arab and Muslim partners of the United States "get aid and
oil money, which are not bad things at all," Gresser said.
"But oil money goes into a big national oil company, which is
controlled by a few thousand people, and the government may not do a
good job of spreading it around. It's not the same as the textile
industry, which puts lots of people to work." Copyright 2004, IATP. http://www.tradeobservatory.org/headlines.cfm?refid=37558 Other Resources
from IATP: Institute for
Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) http://www.iatp.org/ Trade Observatory http://www.tradeobservatory.org/ Water Resources http://www.waterobservatory.org/ Ag Observatory http://www.agobservatory.org/ Environmental
Observatory http://www.environmentalobservatory.org/ Agribusiness Center http://www.agribusinesscenter.org/ Red
Flag! Don't believe everything you read here; at least some of it is
designed to lull the reader into a false sense of complacency. New Report:
U.S. Retreating From UN System The U.S. is adopting
fewer international treaties, opting out of previous treaty commitments,
and often finds itself isolated among the international community on
treaties that protect workers, the environment, women and children,
concludes a new report on the United Nations Treaty system by the
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. Read the report: http://www.tradeobservatory.org/library.cfm?refid=37205 Read the fact sheet: http://www.tradeobservatory.org/library.cfm?refid=37562 IATP's press release: http://www.iatp.org/iatp/library/admin/uploadedfiles/US_Retreating_From_UN_System_New_ Download the research
data: http://www.tradeobservatory.org/library.cfm?refid=37216 Publications and
reports Global
Governance, a new book by IATP's Kristin Dawkins, explores the
origins and current state of play in the major global institutions, the
rising dominance of global corporations and the growing wealth of the
world's political elite amidst increasing poverty throughout the world. Order Global Governance
http://www.sevenstories.com/Book/index.cfm?GCOI=58322100199600 Read the press release (excerpt: Red
Flag) What Is Possible concludes the
book on a visionary note that would build global cooperation
based on strong local and regional institutions. Offering real
examples from the grassroots up to non-governmental organizations and
the UN itself, Dawkins illuminates the constructive frameworks
that global justice campaigners are working to achieve. This advertisement is
at the IATP home page: Peace Coffee <?xml:namespace
prefix = v ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" /> "Farmer-friendly
fair trade coffee available to buy online -- or check for retail outlets
in your area." (Notice the turtle logo; think Wildlands Project,
Turtle Island, etc. Beware!) ===== Extraordinary
Annual Meeting Global Agenda Monitor - "Visions for a Shared
Future" Also referred
to as a "Global Reconciliation Summit" -- on page 21 -- by
Klaus Schwab, Founder and President, World Economic Forum. No fewer than
71 sessions were held. Statement by
the Quartet (also known as the Middle East Quartet) (page 25)
identifies members of the Quartet as: Kofi Annan's
speech is clear in its intent for world control. So is Colin Powell's,
after the conciliatory opening remarks (language deception); the meat of
the speech is almost a cookie-cutter of Annan's. Zoellick's speech on
page 37, should awaken the most complacent: "There is a vast
wealth of human capital in the Middle East..." (Note: Language
deception is used liberally in this document, but there is also a
visible and huge global control ball and chain in evidence to the astute
reader.) June 21-23, 2003 World Economic Forum Amman, Jordan Excerpt from Pages 5
and 6 ( Major, MAJOR Red Flag
- note the five heads of the beast, er, Forum ):
"The World Economic Forum is organizing a Council of 100 Leaders Initiative,
composed of senior political, religious, business, media and opinion
leaders (20 each) dedicated to strengthening ties and
understanding between the West and the Islamic World.
Council members present at the Extraordinary Annual Meeting met and developed
a framework for the initiative, which is expected to be formally
launched at the Forum's Annual Meeting in January 2004 under the
Co-Chairmanship of H.R.H. Prince Turki Al Faisal Al Saud, Chairman, King
Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, Saudi Arabia, and Lord
Carey of Clifton, Former Archbishop of Canterbury, United Kingdom. Excerpt from Pages 17
and 18: The Water
Management Task Force "The Forum's
new Water Initiative was prominently featured during the
Extraordinary Annual Meeting in Jordan. Launched in association
with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), its aim
is to improve the quality and quantity of water for both business and
communities by sharing best practices and partnering in the
maintenance and management of water and watersheds around the world.
... Members include, among others, top
businesses, NGOs, international organizations and governments.
... In addition, the Water Initiative has received the strong
support of Alcan, the world's second largest aluminum producer, most
notably in the decision of its President and Chief Executive Officer,
Travis Engen, to chair the Initiative's Steering Committee. The Water
Initiative was launched on 5 June 2003, World Environment Day,
on Lake Geneva. ... At the launch, Jose Maria Figueres said: "Shared
responsibility for the management of watersheds from
mountain ranges and coastal areas will improve the quality
and quantity of water for business, populations and the
environment." [Important to Note
the order in which the three are listed and the fact that populations of
WHAT are not mentioned; this could be populations of things other than
people...] Additionally, UNEP Executive Director Klaus Topfer,
stated: "We must not only increase public awareness about the
challenges the world is facing in relation to water, but we
must also change the way water use is perceived:
from being a driver of conflict to being a catalyst for collaboration."
[Note: Collaboration In addition to helping
to prepare the public sessions in Jordan on regional water management
and the Red-Dead Sea Canal, a private meeting of participating
organizations and other interested parties took place to explore
transboundary water cooperation ..." One of the speakers:
Robert B. Zoellick (Colin Powell spoke, too, as did UN Kofi Annan) Zoellick's topic:
Global Trade and the Middle East: Reawakening a Vibrant Past http://www.weforum.org/pdf/EAM/Agenda_Monitor ===== Assembly of Turkish
American Associations - Home of 54 Turkish-American Associations across
US, Canada and Turkiye (their spelling) (ATAA) |