Professional Documents
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Objectives
A thorough review of the EUs programmes for employment and social affairs concluded that the Commission should be more effective in its operations, undertake more strategic planning and be more focused in its activities. In response to this evaluation, the Commission has developed a strategic framework in order to apply a more strategic and participatory approach to implementing PROGRESS. The Strategic Framework is an important internal management and accountability tool with two important functions: setting out PROGRESS's strategy and assessing PROGRESS's contribution to achieving the Social Agenda goals. It is also a living document that will continue to evolve as new opportunities arise and others are exhausted or take lower priority. The Strategic Framework sets goals that PROGRESS must attain outcomes both in
the near future and longer term, the contribution that it can make and how we will work with our partners to undertake these objectives. It follows a logical chain where the ultimate outcome determines what intermediate and then immediate outcomes we will seek to reach during the programmes lifecycle of 200713. The immediate outcomes must be achieved for the intermediate outcomes to be attained, and so on. Performance measurement is crucial to making the EU and Member States accountable for the policies and actions they take. The Framework thus also gives a set of performance indicators that we will use to assess whether PROGRESS has reached its targets and supplied its products.
History of NAFTA: NAFTA is short for the North American Free Trade Agreement. NAFTA covers Canada, the U.S. and Mexico making it the worlds largest free trade area (in terms of GDP). NAFTA was launched 15 years ago to reduce trading costs, increase business investment, and help North America be more competitive in the global marketplace. As of January 1, 2008, all tariffs between the three countries were eliminated. Between 1993-2007, trade tripled from $297 billion to $1 trillion. Member of NAFTA: Canada Mexico United States
Objectives of NAFTA
Eliminate customs barriers and facilitate cross-border trade in goods and services .
Provide for the protection and adequate application of intellectual property rights in each country