CAFTA - Central Atlantic Free Trade Association

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Notice is hereby given of the organizational meeting of the Central Atlantic Free Trade Association ("CAFTA"). The recent readjustments in national boundaries could mean that some formerly internal trade now crosses international frontiers and thus could be subject to duties, especially as new countries find that this is seemingly the easiest way to raise revenues. This is terrible policy as it encourgages smuggling, which leads to corruption and disrespect for the legal system, and worsens the welfare of both consumers (causing inflation) and producers (causing unemployment). The objective of CAFTA is to maintain duty-free and open trading relationships between all residents of the island of Eutopia, together with any other neighboring countries/islands that wish to participate. Accordingly, the minister of trade or the equivalent from each government is accorded membership. Active merchants can join the advisory board.

Loic de Fourgéres, Provisional Chairman

 

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Several businessmen notice the new organization and join its ranks, sharing the same concerns as those pointed out by Per Fourgéres

- heagarty as NPCs
GM Events

 

[Deaghaidh]

I am intrigued by your orginizations agenda. This seems like a sensible begining toward amicable re-unification in the future. I'd like to join your group.

 

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Where are the trade ministers?

I am gratified by the response thus far, although we have yet to hear from any trade ministers or other governmental representatives. This is no doubt partly due to the recent chaos. All members are encouraged to write their government representatives to let them know of this opportunity to keep trade free and help rebuild the prosperity of this island. In the meantime, if someone would like to exercise their wordsmithing and craft suitable wording for a draft treaty or trade statutes that could be enacted by all nations that wish to keep trade free, that would be much appreciated.

Loic de Fourgéres, Acting Chairman

 

[Deaghaidh]

WE'll probably get a response after the elections, the current administration is just a placeholder really and unlikely to take on a big initiative like this.

 

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From a local Neuwestbaden newspaper, famed economist Leonard Schneider writes about the CAFTA:

"[...]the terrible events affected our Nation in the last months brought our country for the first time in history to face the problem of boundaries. It's a concern of many economists the results of such new situation. I belive that the main problems are on the politics side, most of the industrial power still remains in the "proper" Eutopia side of the island, so the seccessionists will have to deal with that problem. [...]Nonetheless it's important to set precise rules on trade between the new entities created on our island. In that way is truly welcomed the creation of the Central Atlantic Free Trade Association (CAFTA), and i hope that the future government (and i also hope the actual one) will take the goal of CAFTA as theirs, until the final and just reunification will take place [...]"

 

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Draft Free Trade Agreement

Whereas, the benefits of free trade are many including: lower prices, better quality, more choice, lower unemployment, lower inflation, higher economic growth, better understanding and mutual respect, and

Whereas, restrictions on free trade such as customs duties, trade sanctions, trade embargos, or quotas can be shown to be detrimental to any country that imposes them, be it therefore

RESOLVED that the free and open trade that has generally prevailed on the island of Eutopia should continue unhindered, even though political boundaries now separate what had previously been purely internal transactions, and be it further

Resolved that the free trade shall include goods, services, labour, capital, and intellectual property. The free trade in goods does not include substances that are prohibited by law (such as illegal drugs or ivory) in any member country, or illegally obtained goods (stolen or manufactured under illegal conditions). Export subsidies are deemed to be in contravention of this treaty. The free trade in services or labour does not include contracts that oblige slavery or indentured servitude longer than one month. The free trade in capital does not exempt capital from income taxes. The harmonization of tax rates, professional qualifications, quality standards, and vehicle inspection standards will facilitate the operation of this treaty and are encouraged, and be it further

Resolved that this treaty is effective upon adoption and any taxes levied on trade between the dissolution of the Second Republic of Eutopia and the adoption of this treay are subject to refund upon appropriate application.

 

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Gonzov walked into the Building and asked in a heavy Russian Accent:

"May I Join CAFTA? I am most concerned by the points raised by you, and CAFTA is a way to remedy them."

 

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Bienvenue á CAFTA

Gonzov walked into the Building and asked in a heavy Russian Accent:

"May I Join CAFTA? I am most concerned by the points raised by you, and CAFTA is a way to remedy them."

Ah! Citizen, er, Señor, er, Tovaritch Gonzov, of course, so nice to see some interest from someone with significant business interests in Tilapia wanting to join CAFTA. Of course, you are more than qualified and most welcome to join our merchants and traders advisory board. Is there any chance that you could provide an introduction to the new Minister of Trade for that country. My Spanish is somewhat rusty, so I haven't even been able to figure out who holds that position.

 

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*Gonzov smiled*

"Well, my Spanish is much better than my English, they never tought you English in the Soviet Union."

 

[Deaghaidh]

A point of clairification for me, is the purpose of this organization the establishment of a free trade agreement within the former Republic of Eutopia (UPE, Tilapia and St Espirit) or a general free-trade policy with the whole world

 

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CAFTA's Purpose

A point of clairification for me, is the purpose of this organization the establishment of a free trade agreement within the former Republic of Eutopia (UPE, Tilapia and St Espirit) or a general free-trade policy with the whole world

There was free trade within the former Republic of Eutopia (UPE, Tilapia and St Espirit), that risks beoming not free. Maintaining that freedom is certainly our first objective. Personnally, I think it would be advantageous to extend it to a wider group, but I am only acting chairman, until some government ministers show up and organize their end of things. The advisory board, made up of prominent businessmen involved in cross-border trade, can propose and vote on a resolution recommending an extension to other nations. Equally, they could and should elect a chairman. I am just filling in until then, but would accept the position if the powerful business people did not want to vote for one of the competitors, and therefore preferred me as a compromise candidate.

Loic de Fourgéres
Acting Chairman

 

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CAFTA opens new offices in New Lancaster City

For immediate release:

The Central Atlantic Free Trade Organization has leased offices in the former campus of NLSE, which was closed pursant to the Higher Education Reform Bill enacted in 2003. Acting Chairman Loic de Fourgéres stated that he felt this was a more convenient location for the Eutopian office, and that CAFTA would entertain offers from Tilapia and St. Esprit real estate magnates for suitably located offices in their commercial centers.

 

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Trade, Travel, and Citizenship Poll

In order to guide the new government, CAFTA has commissioned a poll on attitudes towards trade, travel, and citizenship. Please mail your responses to our office (OOC: send me a PM). All responses will be kept confidential and your name will not be added to our mailing list or sold/divulged to anyone.

For each question, please select one response that most closely reflects your view:

Q1: Intra-Island Trade:
A. National Self-Sufficiency: Close the national borders to imports/exports.
B: National Protectionism: Raise import duties to protect or develop manufacturers in your nation.
C: Bilateral Trade Agreements: Negotiate to lower tariffs and remove other barriers to trade (such as quotas) individually with other nations who lower them on goods from your country.
D: Multilateral Trade Agreements: Join an association of other nations working to reduce tariffs and other barriers to trade among all member nations.
E: Unilateral Free Trade: Lower or eliminate tariffs and other barriers to trade

Q2: Overseas Trade (with countries not on the Island of Eutopia)
(Same choices as Q1 above)

Q3: Intra-Island Travel:
A: Close national borders to travel
B: Require a passport (issued by home country of traveller) and visa (issued by destination country) to cross national borders
C: Require a passport, but no visa to cross national borders
D: Open Borders

Q4: Overseas Travel:
(Same choices as Q2 above)

Q5: Citizenship - Working:
A: Only national citizens can hold jobs
B: Only citizens and holders of certain visas can hold jobs
C: Only citizens of any Eutopian country can hold jobs
D: Citizens of any Eutopian country and holders of certain visas can hold jobs
E: Anyone can hold a job

Q6: Citizenship - Voting:
A: Only national citizens can vote
B: Citizens of any Eutopian country can vote
C: Anyone can vote

Q7: In what nation is your prinicipal residence?

Please the following form in, with the appropriate letter after the first six questions:
Q1: Intra-Island Trade:
Q2: Overseas Trade:
Q3: Intra-Island Travel:
Q4: Overseas Travel:
Q5: Citizenship - Working:
Q6: Citizenship - Voting:
Q7: Home Nation:

Thanks for your participation.

Lois de Fourgéres, Acting Chairman
Central Atlantic Free Trade Association

 

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Trade, Travel, & Citizenship Poll Update

Earlier response rates have been encouraging with a 9% response rate. Be sure to send in you views to have them counted! Please see the prior post or follow this link:

http://www.europa-universalis.com/f...08&postcount=14

 

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Nothing to do?

Nothing to do while waiting around for the election results?
Take the CAFTA poll on trade, travel, and citizenship. You'll help influence the new government as they refine their policies. About 15% of your fellow citizens have responded, but more would be helpful.

http://www.europa-universalis.com/f...08&postcount=14

 

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Poll Results

In order to guide the new government, CAFTA commissioned a poll on attitudes towards trade, travel, and citizenship. We had a 15% participation rate, but no control on whether those more interested might have differing views from those who did not. Analysis, commentary, and margin of error statistics for the results will be published later.

Q1: Intra-Island Trade:
A. National Self-Sufficiency: 0% Close the national borders to imports/exports.
B: National Protectionism: 0% Raise import duties to protect or develop manufacturers in your nation.
C: Bilateral Trade Agreements: 12.5% Negotiate to lower tariffs and remove other barriers to trade (such as quotas) individually with other nations who lower them on goods from your country.
D: Multilateral Trade Agreements: 12.5% Join an association of other nations working to reduce tariffs and other barriers to trade among all member nations.
E: Unilateral Free Trade: 75% Lower or eliminate tariffs and other barriers to trade

Q2: Overseas Trade (with countries not on the Island of Eutopia)
A. National Self-Sufficiency: 0% Close the national borders to imports/exports.
B: National Protectionism: 12.5% Raise import duties to protect or develop manufacturers in your nation.
C: Bilateral Trade Agreements: 25% Negotiate to lower tariffs and remove other barriers to trade (such as quotas) individually with other nations who lower them on goods from your country.
D: Multilateral Trade Agreements: 50% Join an association of other nations working to reduce tariffs and other barriers to trade among all member nations.
E: Unilateral Free Trade: 12.5% Lower or eliminate tariffs and other barriers to trade


Q3: Intra-Island Travel:
A: Close national borders to travel 0%
B: Require a passport and visa to cross national borders 0%
C: Require a passport, but no visa to cross national borders 0%
D: Open Borders 100%

Q4: Overseas Travel:
A: Close national borders to travel 0%
B: Require a passport and visa to cross national borders 25%
C: Require a passport, but no visa to cross national borders 75%
D: Open Borders 0%

Q5: Citizenship - Working:
A: Only national citizens can hold jobs 0%
B: Only citizens and holders of certain visas can hold jobs 12.5%
C: Only citizens of any Eutopian country can hold jobs 25%
D: Citizens of any Eutopian country and holders of certain visas can hold jobs 50%
E: Anyone can hold a job 12.5%

Q6: Citizenship - Voting:
A: Only national citizens can vote 62.5%
B: Citizens of any Eutopian country can vote 25%
C: Anyone can vote 12.5%

Q7: In what nation is your prinicipal residence?
87.5% indicated the United Eutopian Provinces, with many different arrangements of the letters. The residence of the remaining 12.5% will not be disclosed to preserve the confidentiality of the individual responses. Additional responses will be accepted and published later if the number of new responses increase the participation rate to 20% or more.

 

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Poll Analysis

Ignoring response bias, the poll figures have a margin of error of about 23% at a 90% confidence level. As I would like to hone that down, additional replies are sought.

I noticed that in his acceptance speech, the new president immediately recognized St. Esprit and Tilapia, and expressed his desire that there not be border guards, so the one issue that drew a 100% agreement, open borders for intra-island travel, seems now to be reflected in policy.

We will have to wait and see how the two positions that attracted 75% support (which is still a majority even allowing for the margin of error): free intra-island trade and not requiring visas from international travellers arriving here fare in the new adminstration. Hopefully, with border with our neighbors now open, they will designate representative to come here to CAFTA, so free intra-island trade can be assured.

 

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Eutopia names Government Representatives to CAFTA

President Al'Aeshir has named the Right Reverend Samuel N. Flanders of New Lancaster and Mr. Alexi Gonzov as governmental representatives to CAFTA. Mr. Gonzov was already a member of advisory board of CAFTA, and his business connections throughout the island are expected to facilitate initial meetings. The representatives are expected to receive detailed instructions from MTIA Talbott. It is hoped that St. Esprit and Tilapia will appoint representatives in the near future so that the governmental representatives as a whole can work on developing a draft treaty to maintain free intra-island trade that is acceptable to all three governments.

 

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Representatives from the nations of Tilapia and St. Esprit have confirmed that they will attend a conference sponsored by the Central Atlantic Free Trade Association (CAFTA) to begin discussions with the objective of developing a draft of a treaty that would keep intra-island trade as free as was previously.

The conference is preliminarily scheduled to start two weeks from now (OOC: 2 days real time) at CAFTA offices in New Lancaster, to allow time for the Eutopian representatives to be briefed by the MTIA and to allow for briefings and travel time for the representatives from the sovereign nations of St. Esprit and Tilapia.