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European Countries Sign Trade Pact
by Winter Casey
Prime ministers of southeastern European countries and territories on Tuesday signed a Central European Free Trade Agreement.
The accord consolidates 32 bilateral agreements in the southern European region into one pact. The European Commission supported the decision.
"CEFTA will replace the spaghetti bowl of regional [agreements] in southeastern Europe with a single agreement that will boost trade and attract investment," EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said in a statement. "The expanded CEFTA will offer real economic benefits to all sides. But it also sends an important political signal. Closer trade relations in southeastern Europe are a foundation for stability and growing prosperity."
The signatories include: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia. Romania and Bulgaria will exit CEFTA when they become members of the European Union on Jan. 1.
Olli Rehn, the EU commissioner for enlargement, said in a Tuesday speech to the CEFTA summit in Bucharest, Romania, that the deal "will allow you to develop competitive advantages and strengthen your export potential. It will increase trade and facilitate business contacts within the region.
"This will make you all stronger. The economic development will promote growth and jobs, bring concrete benefits to your citizens and increase prosperity of the countries in the region."
Rehn added that language to facilitate visas among the nations "will further improve the trade and business contacts between the CEFTA countries and the European Union."
The accord is expected to make the region more attractive for foreign investment. The U.S. State Department said the pact sends "a strong signal to foreign investors interested in an emerging common market of 25 million people" and will help the countries prepare for membership to the World Trade Organization and European Union.
Also on the trade front, European Commission President Jose Barros plans to meet with President Bush at the White House on Jan. 8 to discuss free trade, among other issues.
In other European news, the EU Environment Council this week adopted a regulation on the use of thousands of chemicals that companies use to make computers and other consumer products. The law -- known as the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restrictions of Chemicals, or REACH -- will provide a single EU regulatory system for chemical substances.
The council approved a compromise with the European Parliament on the regulation, which will take effect June 1. Under REACH, close to 30,000 chemical substances must be registered. The regulation addresses the necessity of animal testing and an authorization system for the use of flagged substances.
Belize Firm Accused Of Online Brokerage Fraud
The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday charged a Belize corporation located in Estonia and the company's owner, Evgeny Gashichev, with conducting a fraudulent scheme that targeted online brokerage accounts in the United States to manipulate the price of stocks.
The SEC said Gashichev used other people's online brokerage accounts without authorization to commit the crime. The commission obtained an emergency asset freeze against the company from a U.S. district court in New York.
According to the SEC, Grand Logistic and Gashichev made $353,609 in unlawful profits through at least 25 separate manipulations between Aug. 28 and Oct. 13. The case involves the securities of at least 21 companies.
The SEC said Gashichev purchased shares of small, thinly traded companies with low share prices through an online account he opened in the name of Grand Logistic at an Estonian financial services firm. He then allegedly used electronically stolen user names and passwords to access one or more online brokerage accounts in order to pump up the price of the stocks. He also allegedly used electronic means to hide his identity and his account intrusion.
"Account intrusions combine securities fraud, identity theft and hacking," Linda Chatman Thomsen, director of the SEC's enforcement division, said in a statement. "Our action today demonstrates, once again, that the commission will seek out and stop those who would prey on investors, in whatever manner."
Daniel Hawke, district administrator of the SEC's Philadelphia district office, said the SEC has seen a "dramatic increase" in the number of intrusions into online brokerage accounts.
Canada Boosts Technology Research Funding
Canada's federal government announced Monday that it will give $10 million to TRLabs, the country's largest nonprofit information and communications technology research and development consortium. Alberta's government will provide an additional $7.5 million, and the governments of Manitoba and Saskatchewan have contributed $2.4 million each.
"Information and communications technology plays a key role in expanding Alberta's economy," Doug Horner, minister of advanced education and technology in Alberta, said in a statement.
"This technology is important in health, education, energy and virtually every industry in our province. TRLabs is a key contributor to Alberta's innovation system, bridging basic research with commercial applications and helping entrepreneurs to turn research into competitive products and services for world markets."
Also in Canada, a new law requires the privacy commissioner's office to regularly review compliance with privacy law by the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Center.
Separately, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission must take a more market-based approach to implementing the country's telecommunications law under a policy order issued Monday by Maxime Bernier, the country's minister of industry.
Also in telecom news, Telesat Canada, the nation's leading satellite operator, announced this week that its parent company, BCE, has agreed to sell the company for $3.42 billion. The buyer is a new acquisition company formed by Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board and Loral Space & Communications.
State To Announce Next Web Freedom Phase
Paula Dobriansky, the undersecretary for democracy and global affairs, is expected to announce Wednesday the next phase in the strategy of the State Department's task force on global Internet to promote freedom of expression and the free flow of information online.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced the establishment of the task force Feb. 14. The group monitors Internet freedom and responds to threats.
In other news, in a small city near the Nile River in Egypt, residents now have a state-of-the-art, WiMAX-based wireless network to connect two public schools, a healthcare center on wheels, a municipal building and an e-government services kiosk.
Intel is behind the project. The company worked with Egypt's government, business and education leaders. Intel also said it plans to donate 8,000 computers to schools in Egypt.
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