bilaterals.org logo
bilaterals.org logo

EU


Human rights vow over trade talks
Human rights issues will be high on the agenda in negotiations between the European Union and the GCC on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), a senior official declared in Bahrain last night.
EU Free Trade Agreements Manual
Eight briefings on the European Union’s approach to Free Trade Agreements published jointly by ActionAid, Christian Aid, and Oxfam
S Korea, EU to meet next week for FTA talks
Top trade officials from South Korea and the European Union (EU) plan to meet in Japan next week to discuss how both sides will carry out the ongoing free trade negotiations
EU to speed up trade talks with ASEAN
A top EU trade officer is in Jakarta to try and speed up negotiations for a free trade agreement between the EU and ASEAN — a process he says has been "moving relatively slowly".
Early GCC-EU trade pact urged
The Federation of the GCC Chambers is inviting the European Union and the GCC to speed up signing the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two blocs.
EU accused of undermining UN development goals through free trade
A group of NGOs, trade unions and civil society groups have accused the EU of undermining global poverty reduction goals through its pursuit of free trade deals with African states.
U.S. or E.U.? Tico politicos split over best foreign investor
Costa Rican lawmakers are divided over who makes a better investor in their country, the United States or the European Union, according to a recent questionnaire.
Caricom sees EU trade deal by end of June - minister
The Caribbean region expects to sign a new trade agreement with the European Union by the end of June, Trinidad and Tobago’s trade and industry minister said on Tuesday.
AU Ministers Call for EPA Trade Reviews
African Union (AU) trade and finance ministers want the recently initialled trade deals between the European Union (EU) and African countries to be re-negotiated in the context of a comprehensible full agreement saying it has contentious issues.
EPA text released
CARIFORUM states including The Bahamas are now free to perform their respective legal reviews of the Economic Partnership Agreement [EPA] between the grouping and the European Union now that a legal scrub of the document has been completed, the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery [CRNM] Director General Ambassador Richard Bernal confirmed yesterday.
Brazil sees EU-Mercosur talks moving later in 2008
Long-stalled talks on a trade agreement between the European Union and South America’s Mercosur bloc should make progress in the second half of this year, Brazil’s foreign minister said on Thursday.
ASEAN-EU FTA will bring disaster and sovereignty losing
Statement from the Institute for Global Justice in Indonesia
’We will all live to regret it’
Professor Girvan warns that the EU-Caribbean EPA could widen inequalities among Caricom states
SA envoy clears mist on economic agreements
Short-term benefits brought by Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) should not stand in the way of long term prosperity and integration of the SADC region, says South Africas High Commissioner to Botswana, Mr Dikgang Moopeloa.
Trade ministers band together
The Pacific ACP Trade Ministers from the region have agreed to proceed as a group with negotiations of a comprehensive economic partnership agreement with the European Commission by the end of the year.
Civil Society Vows to Stop EPA
As the recently initialled interim Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) continues to take centre stage, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Africa have vowed to step up their stop-EPA campaign saying the pact has contentious issues.
Ramphal pleads for more equity in EPA
Sir Shridath Ramphal yesterday made a strong plea to the European Union (EU) for "greater equity" in the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) being negotiated with the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and, specifically, the one to be signed this coming June with the Caribbean Community and the Dominican Republic.
UN to review rights report
Bahrain human rights activists will raise issues related to "unconstitutional" constituency boundaries at a key meeting with the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. They are joining another group of activists from GCC states, who will meet officials from the European Union Commission and European Parliament in Brussels. The GCC group will highlight their reservations on their governments’ approach to various human rights issues ahead of the signing of a Gulf-EU Free trade agreement.
Caricom’s corporate conglomeration
At the 19th Intercessional Meeting of Caricom Heads of Government in the Bahamas, Prime Minister Golding called on Caribbean companies to join together in joint ventures because, acting independently, individual enterprises will be unable to penetrate European markets or to achieve the levels of efficiency that each country requires to enter and dominate those markets. He said the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) will provide a challenge to which the region must respond.