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EPAs may stifle struggling flower industry
20-Jul-2007
Uganda’s flower industry needs government incentives and preferential European Union (EU) access to succeed, say members of the east African nation’s floricultural sector.
Can biofuels become sustainable?
20-Jul-2007 European Voice
Sustainability and trade barriers in biofuels could be addressed through new economic partnership agreements (EPAs), which are currently being negotiated with countries from the African, Caribbean and Pacific bloc. “New EPAs and the EDF will provide a framework for action on trade in biofuels,” a spokesman for the European development commissioner said. “From 2008 onwards this issue will become much more visible.”
New Danish strategy targets free trade with emerging markets in Asia
20-Jul-2007 Ministry of Foreign Affairs
A new trade policy strategy from the Government of Denmark aims at supporting ambitious EU bilateral and regional free trade and investment agreements — especially with new growth markets in Asia.
EPA threatens the Human Right to Food of peasant farmers in Ghana
20-Jul-2007
Import surges of tomato paste and chicken parts already have severe impact on the ability of Ghanaian peasant farmers to feed their families. Cuts in the levels of import tariffs on these products, through an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the EU, are likely to cause further violations of their Human Right to adequate Food.
Discord among delegations in EU trade negotiations
19-Jul-2007
With the European Union and South Korea starting their talks on a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) in Brussels, Korean negotiators remain divided over how to open the country’s market to one of the world’s largest economic blocks. The cacophony represents the fact that the government has not put in enough effort to gather consensus before negotiations began and only pushes for the conclusion of the economic deal in a hasty way.
EC grants Ecowas 44.8m Euros
18-Jul-2007
The European Commission has approved a total of 44.8 million Euros to support regional integration in West Africa over a period of five years, from 2007 to 2011.
Free trade agreement with EU possible only after Azerbaijan’s WTO accession, deputy foreign minister says
18-Jul-2007
“There are common factors in Azerbaijan’s integration into Europe and accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO),” Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammadguliyev told journalists, APA reports. He said that European Union approves the idea of Azerbaijan’s WTO membership.
OECS trade ministers discuss European trade
18-Jul-2007
OECS Trade Ministers accommodated the European Commission’s principal negotiator for the Economic Partnership Agreement, Karl Falkenburg on Wednesday.
CEFTA needs one more ratification
17-Jul-2007
The Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) needs one more country to ratify it before it can take effect.
Africa ’’will not be the winner’’ of the EPAs
17-Jul-2007
"I do not know if a winner will emerge from the signing of the economic partnership agreement under the current conditions but I know for sure that Africa cannot be the winner," says Amadou Ba, who heads the international negotiations division at Senegal’s ministry of commerce.
S. Korea, EU have differences over automobiles in free trade talks
17-Jul-2007
South Korea and the European Union are struggling to narrow differences on tariffs and safety regulations on automobile trade as they try to forge an ambitious free trade agreement, a top South Korean negotiator said Tuesday.
CARIFORUM divided on liberalisation issue - Economic Partnership Agreement under threat
17-Jul-2007 Jamaica Gleaner
A disagreement among the members of CARIFORUM, which represents the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Dominican Republic, could cause a delay in the group completing negotiations on the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).
EU sets ambitious goals for South Korean free trade deal
17-Jul-2007 Monsters and critics
’We are setting the bar very high with a 100-per-cent trade liberalization offer,’ an EU trade official told Deutsche Presse-Agentur as European and South Korean officials opened a second round of negotiations in Brussels.
Country-based policies are best
16-Jul-2007
Africa’s poorest countries should develop policies to suit their unique circumstances to replace policies imposed on them by their developed country counterparts, former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa has said.
The EU-Mexico free trade agreement seven years on: A warning to the global South
16-Jul-2007 TNI
Seven years on, the impact of the EU-Mexico FTA is clear. Instead of the promised economic and social benefits, the treaty has left the Mexican state unable to implement policies to promote local small and medium size companies.
Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs): Responses to the EU offensive against ACP developmental regions
16-Jul-2007 TNI
ACP activists have compiled a wealth of criticisms of the EC initiative to conclude EPAs by end 2007. This paper is concerned to bring these analyses to the attention of European civil society and deepening understandings among activists and governments of the implications of EPAs and, in particular, how they undermine existing efforts towards developmental integration in ACP regions.
Korea removes rice from EU FTA talks
16-Jul-2007 Chosun Ilbo
South Korea has sent a draft proposal on free trade talks to the EU, promising to remove or phase out import tariffs on cars over seven years. Seoul has also decided to exclude rice from its list of markets subject to opening, but it may agree to open up its agricultural market, including beef.
What will India gain from the FTA with the EU?
15-Jul-2007 New Europe
The negotiations for an EU-India FTA could prove even more difficult to bring to a successful conclusion than the Doha development negotiations.
Namibia: Communication industry threatened by EPA talks
14-Jul-2007 AllAfrica.com
Between 2004 and 2006, the Naimibian government made more than N$200 million in dividends alone from fixed telecommunication lines, provision of bulk communication infrastructures, and on mobile phone services. Liberalising the sector through the EPA with the EU may poke a hole to its bulging purse. Namibia is also worried that the inclusion of a New Generation clause may hamper the country’s expansion programme into SADC market.
Southern Africa: EU official ’creating rift’
13-Jul-2007 AllAfrica.com
A top European Union official has been seeking to create divisions between South Africa and its neighbours in talks aimed at establishing a free trade deal, African diplomats have alleged.