Call for Papers: EU - Mexican Legal, Commercial and Business Relations

The Endowed Research Chair in European Studies on Development and Competitiveness (Cátedra Estudios Europeos sobre Desarrollo y Competitividad) of the School for Government, Social Sciences and Humanities of the Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM), headed by María de Lourdes Dieck Assad, former Ambassador of Mexico for the European Union, has issued a call for papers for a book on "EU - Mexican Legal, Commercial and Business Relations." Here's the call:

In the 1980's Mexico significantly transformed its international economic policy from protectionism to tradeliberalization. Two of the most notable occurrences in this framework were the formation of the North American Free Trade Area in 1994 and the Mexican – European Free Trade Agreement, which entered into force in 2000. Both granted Mexico a preferential access to two of the most important and dominating markets of the world.

Due to their strong commercial ties, the Mexican - US relations in the context of NAFTA have been analyzed in profusion by academic literature. On the other hand, even with the entry into force of the EU - Mexico Free Trade Agreement, EU's position as Mexico's second most important trading partner and the recent classification of Mexico as a "Strategic Partner" of the EU, little reference has been made to the legal, commercial and business relations of this partnership.

To enrich the discussion in this field and in the context of the EU - Mexico Free Trade Agreement 10th year anniversary to be commemorated on October 1st 2010, the Endowed Research Chair in European Studies on Development and Competitiveness (Cátedra Estudios Europeos sobre Desarrollo y Competitividad) of the School for Government, Social Sciences and Humanities of the Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM), headed by Dra. María de Lourdes Dieck Assad, former Ambassador of Mexico for the European Union, invites to the contribution for book under the working title:

"EU - Mexican Legal, Commercial and Business Relations"

Covering topics involving:

• International and World Trade Law
• European Mexican Business
• Economic Analysis
• European Community Law
• Business Strategies
• Political Economy Analysis
• Protection of Investment
• Institutional Cooperation
• Fair Trade and Social Responsibility

Propositional abstracts of about 300 - 400 words in length should be sent no later than July 31st, 2009 to Gerhard Niedrist gerhard.niedrist@itesm.mx, Associate Professor at the Masters Program of International Law at ITESM. Submitted abstracts will be reviewed for acceptance by a group comprised of researchers from the organizing institution. Responses on whether proposals are accepted will be sent to submitters by September 2009. The final chapters (about 10,000 words in length including footnotes and references) should be submitted by February 29th 2010. The contributions should be in English and will be published through a major international publisher in the first half of 2010.

The final works will be presented as one stream at the "Bicentennial Anniversary on the Mexican
Independence Conference" to be held in Monterrey, México in September 2010.