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The author reflects on the strategies and programs that African countries should adopt to eliminate trade barriers and implement free trade. Topics include the goal of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to bolster manufacturing, incomes and economic growth, and the barriers to free trade like corruption, red tape at borders, costly logistics, and poor infrastructure.

The article looks at an expansion in the number of freeports, or storage facilities located adjacent to airports or other international transportation facilities, designed to house art works and other luxury goods belonging to wealthy individuals, as of 2013. It describes the benefits they offer to users, including tax avoidance and confidentiality, and notes many are located in Switzerland. The building of a freeport facility in Luxembourg is discussed.

Editorial. Comments on the trade policies enacted by U.S. President George W. Bush. Consideration of the promotion of free trade; Effects of reconstruction in 1945; Significance of the Doha Development Agenda, a trade policy agreement launched by the U.S. and the European Union; Status of the World Trade Organization; Criticism from European publications with regards to the regional and bilateral free-trade negotiations made by the U.S.

The article discusses the economic recovery of Amapala, off the coast of Honduras in Central America. It states that the government is optimistic to attract investors with plans to build a megaport which includes a customs office and processing plants for exports. The 2013 law to add employment and economic development zones (Zedas) to municipalities and departments is also discussed.

The article discusses conditions in Benghazi, Libya. Government security forces, laborers, and others have been victims of assassination. A lack of security in Benghazi has created an opportunity for radical Islamist groups. Despite that, the city's economy has been improving, and a free-trade zone is being planned.

This article reports on the discussions about a pan-Pacific economic community and free trade zone that occurred at a summit meeting in Thailand on October 25, 2009. Talking about an East Asian community with its own currency is not new and will probably not occur in the near future. The summit meetings usually result only in the creation of more trade rules. The Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) announced that it had cut tariffs on manufactured goods.

The article reports on relations between Russia and Ukraine. Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, looked ill-informed, amateurish, even downright dangerous after his crass support for the losing candidate in Ukraine's elections. His visit to Kiev this weekend will test how far he can now restore his previous pragmatic reputation. His immediate goal will be to muster a bit more cordiality than he and Victor Yushchenko, Ukraine's new president, managed at a frosty meeting in Moscow in January. Mr Putin's broader aim will be to stop Mr Yushchenko's desire for closer integration with the European Union compromising Ukraine's relations with Russia. Bold hopes for a single economic space comprising Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan--a scheme to which Leonid Kuchma, Mr Yushchenko's predecessor, signed up--now look out of the question, even if some sort of free-trade zone may be plausible. The long-term future of Russia's Black Sea fleet, based in the Crimean port of Sebastopol, would also surely be called into question were Ukraine to join NATO. Mr Putin may also inquire about the future of some other Russian assets. At a meeting on March 14th, Mr Yushchenko reportedly reassured a clutch of top Russian managers or "oligarchs" that their holdings in Ukraine would not be unfairly picked on in the government's review of dodgy Kuchma-era privatisations.

The article examines why Asian countries are racing to sign bilateral trade deals with each other. After three failed attempts, South Korea's National Assembly ratified the country's first-ever free-trade agreement (FTA) last week. Such agreements are becoming commonplace. Long a member of the ten-nation Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Singapore has signed bilateral agreements in the past two years with Japan, Australia and America, and is talking to South Korea, India, Canada and Mexico about other FTAs. The proliferation of simple FTAs is pushing many Asian countries to make bigger "concessions" in a race to secure better access to nearby economies. South Korea's government hopes its deal will pave the way for more valuable agreements with its two giant neighbours, China and Japan. Like South Korea, Japan is making a trial run with a non-Asian country, in its case Mexico.

The article argues that the concept of a "special economic zone" (SEZ) has its limits, but SEZs can be useful if they encourage experimentation within economies. According to the article, SEZs offer a combination of tax-and-tariff incentives, less regulation, and streamlined customs procedures. Free-trade zones and SEZs in places such as Shenzhen, China are mentioned, along with political oversight and freedom from government bureaucracy. Chinese economic reforms are also examined.

The article focuses on the launch of Luxembourg's free port in 2014 and the country's establishment as a financial management center. Topics include the taxation of individuals and businesses in Luxembourg, how the erosion of financial secrecy has impacted Luxembourg, and Luxembourg's recovery after the global financial crisis.

The article focuses on the performance of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, a special economic area established by Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang in 2013. Topics include the opening of the gold market in China, economic innovation in the zone, and the number of foreign firms and foreign investment flowing into the zone.

Presents information on the impact of the Asian economic crisis on the port city of Shantou in the Chinese province of Guangdong. City a special economic zone; The expatriates of city sending back funds and investments; How the collapse of other Asian currencies has hurt their economy; China's reaction to the crisis including lowering the water and electricity prices for factories.

The article focuses on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) a free-trade agreement that would govern one-third of all trade in the global economy. Topics include Japan's decision to join negotiation talks in June of 2013, the fear that the U.S. will impose American standards on commodities, and the inclusion of economic exemptions, also known as carve-outs, for participating countries.

The article discusses how art insurers are concerned over the high concentration of valuable pieces in storage facilities, including information on free ports in Geneva and Zurich, Switzerland, and how a painting by post-impressionist painter Paul Cezanne sold for $250 million.

The article reports that Taiwan has been left out of the trade agreement between East Asian nations, liberalizing the services trade between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Taiwan managed to join the World Trade Organization against Chinese objections, but has been excluded from the talks for the bilateral free-trade agreements that are springing up as the Doha talks stall indefinitely.

This article reports on the tariffs of democratic societies. A tariff is a tax on foreign goods. A significant portion of U.S. congressional leaders bash trade tariffs and promote open markets in an effort to please voters. Voters are also consumers who dislike paying extra money for imported goods. Democratic governments can withstand some consumer disgruntlement if the margin of voter unhappiness is limited.

This article discusses Miami as an emerging business center. Long accustomed to being just a hub for Latin America and the Caribbean, Miami recently awarded itself an upgrade. Only 20 years ago, Miami had a serious brand problem, mainly thanks to the corruption and drugs that provided such good storylines for the TV series" Miami Vice". The FTAA office would further entrench the city's burgeoning reputation as the business and finance capital of the Latin market, both in the United States and in Latin America itself. Unlike most of their home countries, Miami offers Latin America's businesses political and financial stability, a comparatively transparent and efficient legal system, and superb communications, combined with the lifestyle of South Beach. Anti-American sentiment throughout Latin America could yet put Miami at a disadvantage, and Puerto Rico sees itself as a good cultural and political compromise.

Anti-capitalists and advocates of free trade seldom agree on much.An idea that is readily accepted by both sides in the globalization debate is that the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Geneva-based outfit that oversees multilateral trade arrangements, makes a difference. Almost nobody doubts that the WTO and its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), have helped to boost global trade, by encouraging countries to lower their tariff barriers in successive rounds of trade negotiations. Andrew Rose, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley, claims that the WTO has been ineffective.

Presents information on the free-trade and special economic zones set up on Iran's islands of Kish and Qeshm, near the Gulf port of Bandar Abbas. Progress on the island seen as slow; Expectations for the zones; Iran's parliament considering the zones a failure; Success of Qeshm Island Free Zone; Little government money given to the islands.

The article discusses the plan for a huge duty-free shipping and processing zone, on the Tumen River close to the point where the borders of Russia, China and North Korea meet. These three countries plus South Korea, Japan and Mongolia are the unlikely partners in the venture, which calls for an unaccustomed degree of co-operation and improbable amounts of cash, necessary roads, railways, ports and airports, which are expected to cost at least $30 billion over 15-20 years. The United Nations Development Programme has promised the $2 million-3 million needed for the feasibility study. The planners next meet in Beijing in April 1992.

Describes the town of Goa, India, one of the few places in the country where Indians live in harmony with each other. Issue of tourism; Hopes of Goa to persuade the central government to allow Panaji to become a free port; Outlook for change.

The article discusses the efficacy of the establishment of a free-trade zone for export processors in Darwin, Northern Territory. Women in the trade zone are said to have been affected more, with the 24 women applying for permanent residence being among 73 Chinese brought to Darwin by a Hong Kong company called Hengyang, whose job was to make jeans for export to America with a "made in Australia" label. The women were to be paid $ 120 a month, with another $30 remitted to China.