Chairman cotton: Socialist Bulgaria’s cotton trade with African countries during the early Cold War (1946–70)

This article follows Bulgarian officials engaged in cotton and textile exchange with African states in the early Cold War. These officials founded enterprises for carrying out transactions, collected information on prices at international cotton exchanges and attended meetings of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) to coordinate trade activities in capitalist markets. Exploring how Bulgarian foreign trade organizations positioned themselves on the scene of international trade, this article argues that cotton traders, instead of upholding the supposed bloc bipolarity of the Cold War, followed the logic of the markets they worked in. A focus on trade infrastructures in particular shows that early Cold War East–South trade was not as strictly bilateral as official agreements and statistics suggest and reveals the systematic embeddedness of the socialist traders’ practices in global capitalist structures. In the field of cotton, the globalizing economy of the early Cold War was not cut in half, as globalization studies have implied.

Establishment of Cooperation Between the SFRY and the COMECON in 1964

This article analyzes the motives for establishing cooperation between Yugoslavia and the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON). The course of the negotiations is shown, as well as, the conclusion of the Agreement on Yugoslavia’s participation within the organs of the COMECON. The paper is based on unpublished documents from the archives of the Republic of Serbia and the Russian Federation, as well as other relevant literature

The Effects of Organizational Traits on NGO–Business Engagement in Mexico

This paper explores the organizational traits that increase the likelihood of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to engage with businesses in order to enhance their mutual economic, environmental and social goals, consistent with UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 17, Targets 17.16 and 17.17. The research is based on a survey of 364 randomly selected environmental and social NGOs in Mexico. A probit model is used to analyze the data and generate insights whereby an NGO’s proclivity to engage with the private sector is associated with a number of fundamental organizational characteristics that make them distinct from other NGOs active in their field. The main findings show that likelihood of NGO engagement with firms is correlated with making corporate donations deductible for businesses, NGO size and scope, activities and level of professionalization, sustaining broader stakeholder relations, and showing transparency about the mission and goals of the NGO. The paper includes an analysis of the determinants of specific forms of engagement and discusses some implications for NGO–business engagement and its support of the SDG targets.

Romania and the Beginning of CMEA Controversies over a Common Trade Policy Towards the EEC, 1969–1972

This article examines Romania’s opposition to the attempts of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) in the early 1970s to adopt a common trade policy towards the European Economic Community (EEC). The article covers the period between 1969, when the CMEA embarked on negotiations regarding the deepening of the intra-bloc cooperation and integration, and 1 January 1973, which is the date marking the end of the derogations that the Eastern European states received with regard to the implementation of the EEC’s Common Commercial Policy. The article focuses on Romania’s reasons and tactics of opposition, but it also outlines its views with regard to the EEC, in general, and the CMEA-EEC relations, in particular. Corroborated by findings involving studies in other Eastern European archives, this article will help to create a better understanding of the CMEA debates on integration, on the CMEA-EEC relations, in general, and on Romania’s opposition to the CMEA’s intended common policy towards the EEC, in particular.

Prospects of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor: A Critical Appraisal

Changes in geopolitical and geo-strategic regional and global whirlwinds have forced states to rethink and re-conceptualize their functions and positions. Mutual economic-political and strategic importance propels them to form new alliances and sign new pacts and protocols. New ways of global and inter-regional economic cooperation and exchange in the contemporary world have acquired the centrality at the international relations level. The China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a joint Sino-Pak initiative, has become the flagship inter-regional connectivity and integration project. The CPEC would connect the regions in order to encourage regional and inter-regional trade and trade cooperation, which would improve the economic activities that would become useful in sealing off the vicious cycle of poverty. Some regional and non-regional states have, however, expressed their reservations about CPEC.