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Armenia-EU free trade deal blocked: Lithuania
4-Sep-2013 AFP
Armenia has blocked its chances of signing a free trade deal with the European Union by choosing to join the Russia-led customs union, EU president Lithuania said Tuesday.
US’s controversial TPP proposal is smoking gun for corporate agenda
3-Sep-2013 Tanh Nien News
Vietnam and other countries involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations face aggressive interference from Big Tobacco in the passage and implementation of public health policies, critics warn
Eli Lilly’s NAFTA lawsuit should prompt rethink of investor ’rights’ deals
3-Sep-2013 rabble.ca
It’s likely that until recently very few people in Canada knew what a Foreign Investment Protection Agreement (FIPA) was. But when the Harper government announced it had signed one of these things with China, the situation changed quickly.
Thai-EU talks could hinder access to affodable medicine, public health experts say
3-Sep-2013 The Nation
Round two of Thai-EU FTA talks in Thailand later this month will see strong opposition from more than 2,000 people from various civic groups in Thailand, including medical patients, consumers and farmers protesting against what they claim to be "unfair arrangements" set to be discussed under the FTA.
Peru starts talks on FTA with Russia, Turkey, Israel
3-Sep-2013 Andina
Peru’s Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Magali Silva, said that Peru has started the first talks toward an eventual free trade agreement between Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, India, Indonesia, Turkey and Israel.
Data secure status for India is vital: Sharma on FTA with EU
3-Sep-2013 PTI
India has a "very good agreement on table" for the European Union on bilateral free trade pact but data security status is all important for the country, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said today.
Kevin Rudd ’risks foreign investment’
2-Sep-2013 The Australian
Business has warned that Kevin Rudd’s populist rhetoric on foreign ownership could undermine Australia’s ability to secure free-trade agreements with key Asian trading partners and risks foreign investment that is crucial as the economy slows.
NPPC, other organizations urge adoption of TPP principles
2-Sep-2013 Agri-Pulse
A coalition of agricultural and food organizations led by the National Pork Producers Council and Cargill sent a letter recently to urge U.S. trade negotiators to include its “core” principles for a final Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement.
GCC-Singapore FTA comes into effect
1-Sep-2013
The Gulf Cooperation Council-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (GSFTA) came into effect on Sunday, 1 September.
India–US bilateral investment treaty going nowhere
1-Sep-2013 East Asia Forum
The India–US bilateral investment treaty negotiations have taken a hit after India insisted on preconditions that will, if implemented, deny foreign investors the right to international dispute settlement measures.
Why ’free trade’ hits Pacific people (PMC)
1-Sep-2013 AUT
For Gary Juffa — the Governor of Papua New Guinea’s Oro province and one of the region’s most outspoken critics of free trade — neoliberalism is a hard pill to swallow.
Port Hawkesbury Paper deal violates free trade: US congressman
31-Aug-2013
Government funding for the Port Hawkesbury Paper mill in Nova Scotia, Canada, violated free trade laws, a US congressman says.
Joint FTA study with Turkey nears completion
31-Aug-2013
Thailand and Turkey plan to finalise their joint study on a possible free-trade (FTA) agreement by early next year.
Waiting for an FTA
31-Aug-2013
Southern Africa countries’ restrictive trade practices continue to undermine the potential gains of a regional free trade area (FTA).
Thailand: Ministry plans to cut time it takes to complete FTA
31-Aug-2013
The Thai Commerce Ministry aims to speed up the time it takes to complete talks on free-trade agreements from the current average of two years.
Trade: Pakistan, Indonesia PTA comes into effect
31-Aug-2013
Indonesia and Pakistan have agreed to formally activate the Preferential Trade Agreement with effect from September 1 (Sunday), ensuring greater market access to their products.
A struggle for survival in Colombia’s countryside
31-Aug-2013 Eyes on Trade
The source of this uprising lies in policies not up for discussion in the country’s current peace talks: the impact of the US-Colombia FTA – implemented in May 2012 – and policies that have similarly afflicted Colombian campesinos (small-scale farmers).
Nationwide protests rage against Colombia’s economic policies
30-Aug-2013 IPS
A strike declared nearly two weeks ago in Colombia by farmers and joined later by truck drivers, health workers, miners and students spread to include protests in the cities before mushrooming into a general strike Thursday, demanding changes in the government’s economic policies.
’970’ asks why Colombia is confiscating farmers’ rice and dumping it in the garbage
30-Aug-2013 NTN24
In the midst of a nationwide agrarian strike, a documentary about a new law criminalizing farmers for the centuries old practice of saving the best seeds and using them for the next crop is igniting debate about the treatment of the country’s farmers.
Move to ease German, EU doubts over investor risk in SA
30-Aug-2013 Business Day
SOUTH Africa is scrambling to convince Germany and its other European trade partners that its unilateral scrapping of bilateral investment treaties is not a risk to their investments in South Africa.