EU STRATEGIC INTERESTS IN KAZAKHSTAN IN THE CONTEXT OF GEOPOLITICAL AND GEO-ECONOMIC CHANGES IN THE REGION WITH FOCUS ON CHINA

Kazakhstan has an important position as the EU´s main trading partner in Central Asia and the EU has been its largest trade partner as well as the largest source of foreign direct investment. The importance of China as trade and investment partner is rising, on the contrary, the EU’s share is declining. Even though there remains plenty of scope for further growth, mutual relations and cooperation are influenced by increased geopolitical tensions and geo-economic changes in the wider region. The paper evaluates the position of the EU and its strategic interests in Kazakhstan in the context of geopolitical and geo-economic changes in the region based on the assessment of the trade and investment position of the EU in comparison with the position of China.

Israel's Trade Alliances Strategy: Enjoying the Best of All Worlds

This article revisits Israel's trade and political alliance with the European Union – its major trade partner. The article examines the position calling to water down Israel-EU trade relations, considering EU's insistence on linking economic benefits with political advancement in the region, insights gained by the COVID-19 pandemic and substantial recent regional developments: Israel's trade diversification policy, the conclusion of Abraham Accords and the discovery of gas in the Eastern Mediterranean basin. Concluding that such a strategy may not serve the parties' interests best, the article explores ways to leverage these developments to further enhance EU-Israel partnership.

PERIPHERAL ELEMENTS OF THE LEXICO-SEMANTIC FIELD “21st CENTURY CHINA”

В настоящее время средства массовой информации, включая электронные ресурсы, играют значительную роль в формировании общественного мнения по различным вопросам. Это в равной степени можно отнести и к вопросам политики, например, к предоставлению информации о различных странах. Анализ лексических единиц и их подбора для описания образа того или иного государства может быть выполнен с использованием концептуального подхода и теории лексико-семантического поля. Автор статьи анализирует, каким образом Китай представлен в американских газетах и журналах, изданных во втором десятилетии XXI века. Взаимоотношения между двумя крупнейшими экономиками мира представляют огромный интерес для всех остальных стран. Кроме того, Китай выступает в качестве особого политического и торгового партнера России, и это придает всему, что связано с этой страной, особую значимость. Данное исследование является второй частью работы по данной теме; в нем представлен анализ периферических единиц лексико-семантического поля «Китай XXI века». Это такие микрополя, как «Китай - механизм», «Китай - проблема», «Природа», «Здоровье», «Китай - родственник». В статье освещаются лексемы, составляющие данные микрополя, а также приводится анализ возможных причин их употребления в том или ином контексте. Nowadays mass media including electronic resources play a significant role in creating popular opinion on various issues. It stands true for political questions such as proving information about countries. Analysis of lexical units and their choice to describe an image of a country can be done through the use of the conceptual scientific approach and the theory of lexico-semantic fields. The author of the article analyzes how China was represented in American newspapers and magazines in the second decade of the 21st century. Relations between two largest economies in the world are of a great importance to all other countries. Besides, China is a special political and trade partner of Russia, and it makes everything connected with this country particularly significant. This study is the second part of the research on this topic that focuses on the periphery elements of the lexico-semantic field “21st century China”. The analysis showed that these are the following microfields: “China is a mechanism”, “China is a problem”, “Nature”, “Health” and “China is a relative”. The article highlights the lexemes comprising these microfields and discusses the possible meanings and ideas expressed by them.

Time for a U.S.–Brazil Tax Treaty

The U.S. is the most relevant trade partner with whom Brazil does not have a tax treaty. Previous attempts to conclude it were not successful, with the main alleged reason being Brazil’s insistence on tax sparing. With the change in time and developments in treaty policy and in the domestic tax regimes of the countries, tax sparing should no longer be an obstacle. After discussing the potential benefits of a treaty for both countries and their respective taxpayers, this Article addresses the technical issues that may arise during negotiations resulting from differences of tax treaty practice and demonstrate that none of them seem significant enough to be a “deal breaker,” with the most relevant currently being sourcing rules on technical services. Should the governments of both countries, which in recent months have given signs of political synchrony unseen in the past decades, decide to pursue the conclusion of a tax treaty, the technical conditions are more than ever present.

Effect of Trade Openness, Customs Tariff, Financial Penalty, and Regional Trade Agreement on Trade Misinvoicing

Trade misinvoicing is one of the illegal practices hiding behind legal trade with the purpose of tax evasion and capital flight. It is estimated that Indonesia had a potential loss of $6.5 billion in state revenue linked to trade misinvoicing in 2016. This study aims to obtain empirical evidence on the factors affecting trade misinvoicing, namely trade openness, customs tariff, financial penalty, and trade agreement in trade activities between Indonesia and its trading partner countries. The analysis was conducted on 83 trade partner countries listed on the UN Comtrade from 2010 to 2019 which were selected through a purposive sampling method; thus 830 observations were obtained. This study engages two-panel data regression models, namely a model with import misinvoicing and export misinvoicing as a proxy for trade misinvoicing. The results of this study indicate that customs tariffs, financial penalties, and trade agreements affect import misinvoicing. Furthermore, customs tariffs and financial penalties affect export misinvoicing. Meanwhile, trade openness does not affect trade misinvoicing, both from the import and export side. Keywords: customs tariff, financial penalty, trade agreement, trade openness, trade misinvoicing Trade misinvoicing merupakan salah satu praktik ilegal yang bersembunyi dibalik perdagangan yang sah dengan tujuan penghindaran pajak dan pelarian modal yang mengakibatkan Indonesia mengalami potensi kehilangan penerimaan sebesar $6,5 miliar pada tahun 2016. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendapatkan bukti empiris mengenai pengaruh faktor trade openness, customs tariff, financial penalty, dan trade agreement terhadap trade misinvoicing yang terdapat pada perdagangan antara Indonesia dan negara mitra dagangnya. Analisis dalam penelitian ini dilakukan terhadap 83 negara mitra dagang yang tercatat di UN Comtrade selama kurun waktu 2010 s.d. 2019 dengan metode purposive sampling, sehingga diperoleh 830 observasi. Penelitian ini menggunakan dua model regresi data panel, yaitu model dengan import misinvoicing dan export misinvoicing sebagai proksi dari trade misinvoicing. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa customs tariff, financial penalty, dan trade agreement berpengaruh terhadap import misinvoicing. Selanjutnya, customs tariff dan financial penalty berpengaruh terhadap export misinvoicing. Sedangkan trade openness tidak berpengaruh terhadap trade misinvoicing baik dari sisi impor maupun ekspor. Kata kunci: customs tariff, financial penalty, trade agreement, trade openness, trade misinvoicing

Direction of Foreign Trade of Nepal

It is foreign trade that deals with the transaction of goods, including services, financial flows, and the movement of factors of production, like labor, capital, and entrepreneurship. The objective of the 15th plan for Nepal is to reduce the trade deficit by increasing production, managing imports, and diversifying trade on a country-wise and a goods-wise basis for export promotion and to maintain foreign exchange stability, external sector stability, and a targeted foreign exchange reserve. The purpose of this research is to assess the direction of Nepalese foreign trade. The author has not found the updated research work of the type. This is a descriptive study that uses secondary data. The analysis relies on simple mathematical tools such as ratios and percentages. The data clearly expresses a huge trade deficit. The rapidly increasing trade imbalance indicates that foreign trade policy needs to be evaluated and improved. In 2019/20, foreign trade in Nepal was adversely affected as compared to previous study years. Nepal's major trade partner is India in terms of imports, exports, trade balance, and total trade. In 2019/20, India's share of total exports stood at 71.8 percent, which was 64.6 percent last year. In total imports, India's share remained at 61.4 percent, as compared to 64.7 percent last year. The findings help the government of Nepal, researchers, practitioners, and learners to know the existing direction of foreign trade of Nepal.

China’s FDI inflow into Ethiopia; Does it have relation with bilateral trade?

Purpose The purpose of this study is to empirically analyze if a bilateral trade between two countries leads to a foreign direct investment (FDI) using a time series data spanning over the period 2000–2017. Design/methodology/approach The Engle-Granger method of co-integration analysis is applied to the data to estimate if China’s export to Ethiopia led to an inflow of FDI from China to Ethiopia over the long run. Findings The results indicated that bilateral trade (import from China) is a major determinant of Chinese FDI inflow to Ethiopia over the study period. Originality/value A number of studies have been conducted on the determinants of FDI in Ethiopia using time series data at different points of time. However, none of them tried to analyze what attracts FDI from an individual country. Accordingly, this study has concentrated on FDI from China and its relation with bilateral trade between China and Ethiopia as China is the number one FDI source and trade partner of Ethiopia.

Somaliland: a self-declared country’s fight against COVID-19

Somaliland despite having a weak health system, managed COVID-19 better than some well-resourced countries in the continent by establishing a National Task Force to direct efforts in early detection, surveillance, risk communication and infection control of the virus. The Ministry of Health has been able to garner personnel with medical skills to increase the response workforce and also supervise the activities of medical facilities across the country. However, these measures have shown unfavorable effect on the economy. Somaliland is in active trade with other African countries and neglecting the impact of the virus can greatly affect the trade partner countries. Appropriate relief funds should be offered by capable countries to lessen the economic impact of the pandemic in the country. In the meantime, it is time to reframe the health system of Somaliland and improve sectors that have been underfunded like emergency, intensive care units and the surgical departments.

Crisis Phenomena in the European Union Economy at the Present Stage of its Development

The article reveals the main problems related to the EU economy’s state and the prospects for its further development. This topic is extremely important for Russia since the European Union is its leading foreign trade partner. The article states that the EU is the largest integration grouping globally in terms of its economic potential. Simultaneously, the lack of significant reserves of natural resources and dependence on their external supplies does not allow the EU to realize its economic opportunities fully. At the same time, the export-oriented model of the economies of its leading member countries makes them sensitive to flctuations in the conjuncture of foreign markets, and the growing public debt contributes to the development of disintegration processes. Besides, the growth of migration flws, the increase in socio-economic tensions, especially during the coronavirus period, also do not allow the EU to solve the accumulated problems. Simultaneously, excessive dependence on the United States in geopolitical and geo-economic relations hinders the development of mutually benefiial economic ties with Russia and other countries. The article presents various opinions about the future of the EU and notes that many authoritative political fiures and experts consider that due to these reasons, it cannot be preserved as a whole.