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APEC

APEC ’too busy’ for free trade deal, says Canberra
12-Jan-2007 The Australian
Australia has dismissed plans for an APEC free trade agreement, arguing that member countries are too busy cementing other trade deals to give it serious attention.
Transcript: Susan Schwab interview
18-Nov-2006 FT
Susan Schwab, US trade representative, on the prospects for turning the 21 economies of Apec into a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP); current talks about bilateral trade deals in Asia; the expiration in June next year of trade promotion authority (TPA); and the expected signing of a bilateral trade agreement between the US and Russia.
APEC puts off consideration of region-wide free-trade deal
15-Nov-2006 INQ7.net
A US proposal to set up a massive Pacific Rim free-trade zone will be set aside for study until a regional meeting next year in Australia, a Japanese official said Wednesday.
Thais against Apec FTA
10-Nov-2006 Bangkok Post
Thailand opposes a US proposal to upgrade the voluntary Apec trade agreement to a legally binding Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, saying it is unnecessary and impractical.
US wary of move for E Asian economic integration
9-Nov-2006 Yomiuri
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum’s reported move to launch discussions on the creation of a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific region (FTAAP) reflects Washington’s wariness of an initiative for East Asia’s economic integration centering around the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
US wants APEC-wide free trade pact: report
5-Nov-2006 Khaleej Times
The United States has sounded out its Asian and Pacific partners on the possibility of creating a regional free trade agreement as a ‘middle- and long-term’ objective, a press report said on Sunday.
Bush to push free trade initiative at APEC summit
18-Oct-2006
US President George W. Bush is expected to push for a plan to improve the patchwork of free trade initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region at the annual APEC summit in Vietnam next month.
When free trade sinks into the ’noodle bowl’
17-Aug-2006 IHT
FTAs are supposedly meant to substitute for lack of progress at the WTO. In practice they are mostly preferential arrangements that run counter to APEC’s principle of "open regionalism," which allows members to pursue liberalization at their own pace but on a nondiscriminatory basis.
Plan B for world trade
16-Aug-2006 Financial Times
The indefinite suspension of the Doha round of world trade talks creates big risks for the world economy. A new explosion of discriminatory bilateral and regional agreements is likely to substitute for global liberalisation, eroding the multilateral rules-based system of the World Trade Organisation.
Too many trade pacts seen driving up costs
15-Aug-2006 INQ7
The proliferation of regional and bilateral free trade agreements in the Asia-Pacific, coupled with the failure of global trade talks, is driving up transaction costs for business despite the decrease in tariffs.
Bilateral, regional trade agreements on APEC agenda
29-May-2006 Thanh Nien News
The ongoing APEC senior official meeting (SOM II) will discuss Sunday existing and new policies for regional trading agreements and free trade agreements (RTA/FTA), reports from the APEC secretariat said.
The US and China: strategic disconnect
20-Apr-2006 TCS Daily
A large set of strategic economic and security questions will challenge both US and Chinese leaders over the next decade. These relate directly to the growth of Asian regionalism, with attendant political institutions, decisions regarding new regional trade and investment agreements, as well as a potential new security architecture for at least East and South Asia.
Chile and New Zealand: A growing strategic economic partnership within New Zealand’s Asia-Pacific relationships
12-Mar-2006
Speech by Rt Honorable Helen Clark of the New Zealabd government
Two-nation trade talk of town at summit
18-Nov-2005 Associated Press
As world leaders gathered Friday for their annual talks on building a free trade zone that circles the Pacific, they were also spending time in sideline huddles forging one-on-one agreements.
Protests turn violent near APEC venue
18-Nov-2005 Reuters
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.
Apec admits dangers of bilateral deals
18-Nov-2005 Financial Times
Criticised by business leaders and alarmed by the possible failure of next month’s world trade talks in Hong Kong, Asia-Pacific governments are acknowledging for the first time the dangers of the tangled "spaghetti bowl" of bilateral trade deals they have spawned in the past few years.
Goff calls for APEC FTA progress, Doha pressure
16-Nov-2005
Noting that a "spaghetti bowl of rules" would result from multiple bilateral free trade agreements among APEC members, Minister of Trade Phil Goff has called for coherence between FTAs in the region.
CEOs seek to standardize FTA rules at APEC
3-Nov-2005
Economies in the Asia-Pacific region need to establish standard FTA (free trade agreements) guidelines as FTAs between the countries have no fundamental rules or principles, the APEC CEO Summit chairman said Wednesday.
Free trade pact with Chile on horizon
25-Oct-2005 China Daily
China and Chile launched the fifth round of talks towards a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) yesterday in Beijing, and hopes to be the last round of negotiations for a formal agreement.
Indonesian Trade Minister cautious on FTAs among APEC members
8-Sep-2005 Asia Pulse
Indonesia’s trade minister expressed caution Tuesday on the formation of free trade agreements (FTAs) within the Asia Pacific region.