The European Commission has replied to the thirteen European defence trade associations that wrote to protest the EC’s Interpretative Communication on the practice of offsets. The reply is unlikely to make any of them happy......
Canada’s purchase of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has generated a new wave of arguments about the contract’s industrial participation benefits. A Liberal Party motion to open the competition for purchase of the new planes was defeated by a coalition vote of the Bloc Québécois and the Conservatives.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has called for a barter agreement with Sri Lanka to boost trade between the two countries. Pakistan is Sri Lanka’s second largest trading partner in South Asia after India.
Ukraine and Venezuela are said to be examining a barter exchange of oil-for-production assistance.
Belarus, seeking alternative sources of oil to replace Russian imports, will supply Venezuela with milk powder and agricultural machinery in return for crude.