Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Properties in Arab States provides a bird's-eye view of the phenomenon of illicit trafficking of cultural properties and serves as a reference point for governments, enforcement agencies, international organizations, stakeholders, and civil societies. It focuses geographically on the Arab World: the countries in the Middle East, Gulf of Arabia, Horn of Africa and North Africa. To date a holistic approach to the topic in this region has been lacking. The book investigates the nature of illicit trafficking of cultural properties, the means and impact of illicit activities and crimes perpetrated against archaeological sites and museums. Through up-to-date information, grounded on solid research data, it traces the routes of illicit trafficking and analyzes the actual situation of the targeted region with an eye on the implementation of the international conventions. The aim is to investigate possible firm responses to illicit trafficking and determine the priorities and needs of this region. The outcomes are visible recommendations on the challenge of illicit trafficking of cultural properties in the Arab region, promoting modalities for sharing data and encouraging the review of legislative and judicial systems and practices connected to illicit trafficking of cultural properties. Finally, the work encourages the coordination of stakeholders and the use of technological advances to fulfil this monumental duty.

Regulation of Risk provides comprehensive insight into regulation of risk in transport, trade and environment. Contributions provide national, regional and international perspectives on pressing questions: How is risk conceived in light of novel technological deployment, climate change, political upheaval, evolving geopolitics, and the COVID-19 pandemic? What legal tools such as contractual frameworks and governance structures are available to manage the changing landscape of risk? This book highlights the importance of dialogue and collaborative decision-making on risk between policymakers, institutions, societal stakeholders and the scientific community.

This technical study examines the state of e-commerce infrastructure among CAREC countries looking at internet payment systems, delivery, and logistics infrastructure. Digital trade promotion has been a long-standing priority for member countries of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program to support their integration into global value chains and economic diversification. The study underscores the importance of enabling legislation, digital literacy, and creation of trust. Comprehensive strategy; adequate data for policy making; and support for e-commerce ecosystems, industry associations, and start-ups could nurture e-commerce markets. In addition, CAREC countries must leverage international and regional initiatives to expand domestic and cross-border e-commerce and promote digital trade.

This report explores how Asia and the Pacific can capitalize on growing opportunities in digital services through structural reforms and international cooperation. Another year into the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the report describes an Asia and Pacific region that has more experience in tackling pandemic hardships, better data showing positive integration trends, and greater confidence in regional cooperation to address shared concerns. The publication gives an overview of changes in trade and global value chains, cross-border investment, financial integration, and the movement of people since the pandemic began.

This publication outlines key blockchain use cases that demonstrate how digital solutions can be applied to facilitate domestic and cross-border trade in Maldives. The Asian Development Bank is helping Maldives implement a robust domestic and regional trade system under the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation program. This integrated trade network facilitates seamless movement of goods and documents, across organizational and national boundaries, and will vastly improve the business environment and overall economic activity. The feasibility study conducted from April to July 2019 established the use cases of blockchain technology that may be ideal in Maldives.

These guidelines explain how the ASEAN+3 Multi-Currency Bond Issuance Framework (AMBIF) relates to the professional Cambodian bond market. The guidelines highlight market characteristics that are significant for issuers and investors, and review the regulatory processes required for issuing different types of debt securities. The guidelines are an output of the ASEAN+3 Bond Market Forum and were developed to enable bond issuers and their service providers to pursue further issuances under AMBIF with greater ease and certainty.

The Law of the Sea (LOS) treaty resulted from some of the most complicated multilateral negotiations ever conducted. Difficult bargaining produced a remarkably sophisticated agreement on the financial aspects of deep ocean mining and on the financing of a new international mining entity. This book analyzes those negotiations along with the abrupt U.S. rejection of their results. Building from this episode, it derives important and subtle general rules and propositions for reaching superior, sustainable agreements in complex bargaining situations. James Sebenius shows how agreements were possible among the parties because and not in spite of differences in their values, expectations, and attitudes toward time and risk. He shows how linking separately intractable issues can generate a zone of possible agreement. He analyzes the extensive role of a computer model in the LOS talks. Finally, he argues that in many negotiations neither the issues nor the parties are fixed and develops analytic techniques that predict how the addition or deletion of either issues or parties may affect the process of reaching agreement.