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UKRAINE<\/b><\/p>\n Decision 2014\/145\/CFSP is amended as follows: <\/span>“[I]n Article 6, the second paragraph is replaced by the following: ‘This Decision shall apply until 15 March 2022′”.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n EUROPEAN INVESTORS WARN THAT THEY ARE TURNING AWAY FROM VIETNAM BECAUSE OF RESTRICTIONS<\/b><\/p>\n 10th September 2021<\/span><\/p>\n Reuters<\/span><\/p>\n More European investors in Vietnam are considering relocating projects elsewhere if the country’s coronavirus restrictions continue for much longer, the European Chamber of Commerce (EuroCham) said.<\/span><\/p>\n A sharp rise in coronavirus cases since late April has seen movement restrictions imposed widely, affecting workers and forcing many companies to suspend operations, which resulted in falls in August exports, industrial output and retail sales.<\/span><\/p>\n “What our members need now is a clear roadmap out of these current measures, one which resolves the roadblocks to their commercial operations and gives them a predictable path on which to plan the reopening of their businesses,” EuroCham chairman Alain Cany said in a statement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Manufacturing, particularly electronics, garments and footwear for major global brands, is a vital part of Vietnam’s economy and a source of several million jobs.<\/span><\/p>\n The European businesses urged authorities to accelerate vaccinations, ensure free-flow of goods, ease movement of workers and expedite the processes for vaccinated business leaders and investors to enter the country. Vietnam has one of Asia’s lowest vaccination rates, with only 4.3% of its 98 million population inoculated.<\/span><\/p>\n Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said Vietnam’s difficulties were temporary.<\/span><\/p>\n “Vietnam will continue to listen to the opinions and proposals of European businesses … and is willing to meet their demands under permissible conditions,” Chinh said in a statement.<\/span><\/p>\n THE EU REJECTS REWORKING OF THE AGREEMENT WITH NORTHERN IRELAND.<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 10th September 2021<\/span><\/p>\n Reuters<\/span><\/p>\n The European Union rejected a British demand to renegotiate their deal governing the trading position of Northern Ireland, saying that to do so would only bring instability and uncertainty. European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic, who oversees EU relations with post-Brexit Britain, said on Friday that the Northern Ireland protocol needed to be properly implemented.<\/span><\/p>\n “A renegotiation of the protocol \u2013 as the UK government is suggesting \u2013 would mean instability, uncertainty and unpredictability in Northern Ireland,” he said in a speech at Queen’s University in Belfast.<\/span><\/p>\n Under the protocol, Britain agreed to leave some EU rules in place in Northern Ireland and accept checks on goods arriving from elsewhere in the United Kingdom, in order to preserve an open land border with EU member state Ireland.<\/span><\/p>\n The arrangement has effectively placed a border in the Irish Sea, angering pro-British unionists who believe it divides them from the rest of the United Kingdom and complicating the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that ended three decades of violence. The commissioner said the two sides should continue discussions to limit the impact of the protocol on everyday life in Northern Ireland, while maintaining its special access to the EU’s internal market.<\/span><\/p>\n Under EU rules, imported food products are subject to certification and checks, while sausages and other chilled meat products cannot enter the bloc. For now, the EU has accepted British extensions to grace periods for such changes.<\/span><\/p>\n The commissioner said he recognised Britain was unlikely to accept the EU’s “ready-made” solution involving the alignment of agri-food rules that would remove most checks, but that with goodwill a fix could be found using the protocol’s flexibility. Britain has said it wants a “normal treaty framework” that is not policed by the European Court of Justice. Sefcovic said that would effectively mean cutting Northern Ireland out of the EU single market.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n IRAN<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n These designations imply that <\/span>“[A]ll property and interests in property subject to U.S. jurisdiction of the designated persons are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with the designated persons or their blocked property\u201d.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n COLOMBIA<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n ANTITERRORISM<\/b><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Among other consequences, <\/span>“[A]ll assets and interests in assets of these persons must be blocked and reported to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). In addition, persons who engage in certain transactions with the persons designated today may themselves be subject to designation. In addition, any foreign financial institution that knowingly facilitates a significant financial transaction or provides significant financial services to designated persons could be subject to correspondent account sanctions or payable-through account sanctions in the United States\u201d.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n CZECH REPUBLIC<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n MEXICO<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n ANTITERRORISM<\/b><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n BIDEN ADMINISTRATION LISTS 21 COUNTRIES (17 IN WESTERN HEMISPHERE) AS <\/b>\u201cMAJOR DRUG TRANSIT OR MAJOR ILLICIT DRUG PRODUCING\u201d<\/i><\/b> AND CUBA IS NOT ON THE LIST<\/b><\/p>\n 16th\u00a0 September 2021<\/span><\/p>\n The White House<\/span><\/p>\n Washington DC<\/span><\/p>\n Presidential Determination No. 2021-13\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE<\/b><\/p>\n ASUNTO<\/b>: Presidential Determination on Major Drug Transit or Major Illicit Drug Producing Countries for Fiscal Year 2022<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, including section 706(1) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 2003 (Public Law 107-228) (FRAA), I hereby identify the following countries as major drug transit or major illicit drug producing countries: <\/span><\/i>Afghanistan, The Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Burma, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela<\/i><\/b>.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n A country’s presence on the foregoing list is neither a reflection of its government’s counterdrugs efforts nor level of cooperation with the United States. Consistent with the statutory definition of a major drug transit or major illicit drug producing country set forth in section 481(e)(2) and (5) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended (Public Law 87-195) (FAA), the reason countries are placed on the list is the combination of geographic, commercial, and economic factors that allow drugs to be transited or produced, even if a government has engaged in robust and diligent narcotics control and law enforcement measures.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Pursuant to section 706(2)(A) of the FRAA, I hereby designate Bolivia and Venezuela as having failed demonstrably to make substantial efforts during the previous 12 months to both adhere to their obligations under international counternarcotic agreements and to take the measures required by section 489(a)(1) of the FAA. Included with this determination are justifications for the <\/span><\/i>designations of Bolivia and Venezuela, as required by section 706(2)(B) of the FRAA. I have also determined, in accordance with provisions of section 706(3)(A) of the FRAA, <\/i><\/b>that United States programs that support Bolivia and Venezuela are vital to the national interests of the United States.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n [\u2026]<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n The United States is committed to working together with the countries of the Western Hemisphere as neighbors and partners to meet our shared challenges of drug trafficking and use. My Administration will seek to expand cooperation with key partners, such as Mexico and Colombia, to shape a collective and comprehensive response and expand efforts to address the production and trafficking of dangerous synthetic drugs that are responsible for many of our overdose deaths, particularly fentanyl, fentanyl analogues, and methamphetamine. In Mexico, we must continue to work together to intensify efforts to dismantle transnational criminal organizations and their networks, increase prosecutions of criminal leaders and facilitators, and strengthen efforts to seize illicit assets. In Bolivia, I encourage the government to take additional steps to safeguard the country’s licit coca markets from criminal exploitation and reduce illicit coca cultivation that continues to exceed legal limits under Bolivia’s domestic laws for medicinal and traditional use. In addition, the United States will look to expand cooperation with China, India, and other chemical source countries in order to disrupt the global flow of synthetic drugs and their precursor chemicals\u201d.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n AMERICAN AIRLINES INVEST IN BRAZIL\u2019S GOL AIRLINES WHICH HAS INTERLINE AGREEMENT WITH CUBANA DE AVIACION. OFAC PERMITS THIS TYPE OF NON-CONTROLLING INVESTMENT.<\/b><\/p>\n 16th September 2021<\/span><\/p>\n Fort Worth, Texas-based <\/span>American Airlines, Inc.<\/span> (2019 revenues approximately US$45.7 billion) has purchased for US$200 million a 5.2% shareholding in Sao Paulo, Brazil-based <\/span>GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes<\/span> S.A<\/span>.<\/b> (2019 revenues approximately US$2.7 billion)<\/span><\/p>\n In December 2015, GOL reported including Jose Marti International Airport (<\/span>HAV<\/b>) in the Republic of Cuba among destinations. HAV is not currently listed among GOL destinations.<\/span><\/p>\n On GOL\u2019s website:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “<\/span><\/i>\u201cInterline: GOL has partnerships with many airlines that can issue your tickets and allow you to make one or more connections without you having to check-in or check your bags again. Learn about the partner airlines with which we have this agreement known as an interline agreement:<\/span><\/i> Cubana de Aviaci\u00f3n<\/span><\/i>“<\/span><\/p>\n On 4 March 1994, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (<\/span><\/i>OFAC<\/i><\/b>) of the United States Department of the Treasury in Washington DC issued an opinion which stated that a United States business or individual subject to United States jurisdiction may make a secondary market investment in a third-country business which has commercial dealings within the Republic of Cuba provided that the investment does not result in control-in-fact of the third-country business by the United States investor and the third-country company does not derive a majority of its revenues from business activity within the Republic of Cuba.\u00a0 Secondary market investment that falls short of a controlling interest in such a business is not prohibited<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n THIRTEEN MONTHS AGO, 2020 DEMOCRATIC PARTY PLATFORM APPROVED POSITION ON CUBA. PRESIDENT BIDEN HAS THUS FAR IGNORED IT.<\/b><\/p>\n 19th September 2021<\/span><\/p>\n 2020 Democratic Party Platform\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The platform was considered by the 2020 Platform Committee at its meeting on July 27, 2020, and was approved by the Democratic National Convention on August 18, 2020<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n
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