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Twelve-country report on FTAs
15-Dec-2004 ANN
A report on the status of FTA fever in 12 Asian countries: Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.
Asian free trade vogue could heat up
12-Dec-2004
Free trade agreements are flying around East Asia these days, with even India, from South Asia, getting a piece of the action.
Singapore and Thailand top lists of completed FTAs
7-Dec-2004 ANN
Singapore and Thailand have emerged as the two Asian countries with the highest number of completed free trade agreements (FTA), according to Asia News Network reports.
EIU: Free-trade free-for-all
7-Dec-2004 EIU ViewsWire
If proof were needed that an Asian free-trade "arms race" has begun in earnest, then the 10th ASEAN summit in Vientiane on November 29th-30th provided it in abundance. The highlight of the summit was the signing of an FTA between China and ASEAN, but equally striking was the number of other trade pacts that were, variously, agreed, worked on or proposed during the meeting in the Lao capital.
APEC leaders duck free-trade plan
22-Nov-2004 Channel News Asia
Asia-Pacific leaders have ducked a call from business advisors to study an ambitious FTA among APEC members.
Viet Nam eyes more FTA involvement
17-Nov-2004 VNS
Viet Nam will start its first round of free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with Japan and South Korea next year, as well as prepare for negotiations with Australia and New Zealand in the near future, said a Ministry of Trade official on Monday.
Apec FTA proposal raising interest
17-Nov-2004 NZPA
A proposal for an Asia-Pacific free trade agreement is attracting significant interest at a ministerial-level meeting of member countries in Santiago, Chile, NZ Trade Negotiations Minister Jim Sutton said today.
ABAC: Assessment of the Proposal for an FTAAP
12-Nov-2004 ABAC
An Issues Paper for the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC)
Singapore -Thailand see need to implement ASEAN free trade earlier
11-Nov-2004
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his visiting Singapore counterpart Lee Hsian Loong have shared the same view that the planned ASEAN trade liberalization should be implemented and achieved earlier than originally set in 2020, according to Government Spokesman Chakraphob Penkair.
‘East Asia trade bloc would balance NAFTA and EU’
11-Nov-2004 Asia Today
Beijing would like to see the emergence of an East Asian arrangement such as the European Union or the North America Free Trade Arrangement (NAFTA). Such an East Asian grouping would balance the world system, which is slowly being carved into blocs.
Bush better for Asia...
5-Nov-2004
The United States must come to grips with the China juggernaut and assert its role as a stabilising force in the region, say analysts
APEC might form unilateral FTA: Official
2-Nov-2004 Jakarta Post
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation member countries are displaying a growing tendency in favor of establishing a unilateral free trade agreement in the vast region, according to a senior official at the Indonesian Ministry of Trade.
US and Afghanistan sign TIFA
24-Sep-2004 USTR
Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Ashley Wills and Afghanistan’s Minister of Commerce, Sayed Mustafa Kazemi, signed a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) today in Kabul that provides a forum for Afghanistan and United States to examine ways to expand bilateral trade and investment.
Fashionable trade agreements all the rage in Asia
13-Sep-2004
From Tokyo to Mumbai, FTAs - free-trade agreements - seem to be every Asian politician’s favorite new phrase these days.
Trade deals must embrace APEC
13-Sep-2004
Asia-Pacific free trade has to be front and centre of any bilateral trade deals struck in the region, a key American business leader says.
APEC meet urges FTA
6-Sep-2004 NDTV.com
Finance Ministers from the 21 members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) explored a wide free trade agreement on Thursday at a conference in Chile.
Mongolia Seeks US Free-Trade Pact To Protect Textile Pdts
3-Sep-2004
Mongolia is seeking to protect its textile industry from the expiry of U.S. quotas at the end of 2004 by inking a free-trade deal with the U.S., a Mongolian official said Thursday.
ANALYSIS: Japan, Asia face bumpy road toward free trade
3-Sep-2004 Reuters
Japan, keen not to lose ground to China, is stepping up its pursuit of regional and bilateral free trade pacts, but the path to success will be bumpy and some experts question how committed Tokyo really is.
US and Mongolia sign bilateral TIFA
16-Jul-2004 United States and Mongolia Sign Bilateral Trade and Investment
The United States and Mongolia today further enhanced their growing economic and trade partnership by signing a bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA).
Aus-NZ Closer Economic Relations: Sutton welcomes proposal to liberalise CER rules
11-Jun-2004
Trade Negotiations Minister Jim Sutton today welcomed a new report saying rules governing trans-Tasman trade should be liberalised as they are too restrictive.