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agriculture | farmers | food


S Korea signs trade deal with Asean
The Korea-ASEAN FTA will include the free flow of goods, services and investments, but a stumbling block emerged with a dispute over rice imports from Thailand. The issue is a sensitive one when Korean farmers are protesting about the removal of trade barriers on farm products under the WTO.
South Korea signs free trade pact with ASEAN, excludes Thailand
South Korea and Southeast Asian nations on Tuesday inked a tariff-slashing Free Trade Agreement (FTA), with Thailand choosing to be excluded from the pact which does not include rice in its list of items.
Statement from US sugar producers regarding US-Peru FTA
The US sugar industry strongly prefers that negotiation of sugar market access occur in the multilateral, comprehensive WTO context, where foreign subsidies can also be addressed, rather than in bilateral and regional FTAs, where subsidies are not addressed.
Peru trade deal angers US asparagus growers
Asparagus growers in Washington state, Michigan and California say they will ask Congress to scuttle a newly announced free-trade agreement between the United States and Peru.
Rice row threatens ASEAN-South Korea free-trade deal
A row over Asia’s staple food, rice, is threatening to scuttle a proposed free-trade deal between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and South Korea, which wants to protect the key sector from tariff cuts.
African and European farmers say no to EPAs and no to a WTO agreement in HKG
Farmers organizations from West Africa and the European Union are convinced that the EPA talks will lead to an agreement which will be detrimental to family farming unless strong corrective measures are taken.
Thailand will not sign ASEAN-S. Korea FTA: spokesman
Thailand will not sign a free trade agreement (FTA) between the Association of South East Asian Nations and South Korea because it does not include rice, government spokesman Surapong Suebwonglee said on Tuesday.
Panama questions FTA with US
Panamanian farmers on Monday called for a mass demonstration December 11 to analyze the state of the negotiations on the Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which their government plans to sign with the United States.
Uribe: Free-trade deal to be fair
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe pledged that the free-trade agreement that his government is negotiating with the United States will be fair, although not ideal.
Bleak outlook for Peru under FTA
In a study commissioned by the World Bank, GRADE researcher Javier Escobal said tariff deregulation of sensitive farm products under the agreement will mean losses of about 370 million dollars for rural families.
Farmers fight FTA in Ecuador
Representatives of farmer organizations from Andean nations began a meeting in this capital on Monday to define actions and strategies to fight the free trade area with the United States (FTA).
Colombia, Ecuador: more talks needed for FTA with US
Colombia and Ecuador decided on Tuesday to break off their free trade talks with the United States for now, saying that more rounds of talks are needed.
Protests turn violent near APEC venue
About 2,000 farmers and farm activists and 3,000 union workers took to the streets of Pusan to denounce APEC, the World Trade Organisation and US President George W Bush, who was attending the leaders’ meeting.
Peru close to sign FTA with US
The proposed free trade pact with the US has caused big demonstrations in Peru due to the farmers of sugar cane, rice, corn, potatoes and cotton fear that US agricultural subsidies will make it impossible for them to compete.
Peruvian farmers buck FTA with US
Two important Peruvian agricultural organizations march Wednesday against president Alejandro Toledo’s negotiations for a free trade agreement with the US.
US links beef import to FTA with South Korea
Alexander Vershbow, Washington’s top diplomat to Seoul, said Tuesday that South Korea’s lifting of the ban on US beef could trigger talks on a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA).
Farmers reject new taxes, ask for assistance with upcoming FTA
Associations in the Dominican farming sector today rejected some of the measures recommended by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and requested from the government to establish a program to shore the sector up, prior to implementing the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States.
Does the FTAA have a future?
The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) will become a reality only if the United States allows increased market access for Brazilian agriculture and competitive manufactures and if Brazil reciprocates by opening its market to foreign competition in goods and services.
The FTAA and its babies
From November 4-5th, 2005, the heads of state of 34 countries in the Americas will meet in Mar del Plata, Argentina, to push the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) forward. One big issue at the helm this year are the bilaterals - otherwise known as the FTAA’s babies - which establish free trade agreements on smaller scales.
Low prices force Mexicans from fields
But in just over a decade, an estimated 1 million farmers in rural Mexico have lost their livelihoods.