18-May-2009
Thanh Nien News
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said Friday she hoped Vietnam and Chile will soon sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) as the two countries have come into concurrence on many important issues during FTA negotiations.
18-May-2009
Business Mirror
THE European Commission said it has not been getting commitments from the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations in the negotiations for a free-trade agreement but welcomed member countries of Asean to push for bilateral deals with the regional bloc.
17-May-2009
Islands Business
Despite the existence of agreements among the Pacific island states, intra-regional trade has been low, mainly due to the massive distances and the lack of products to sell one another. In the words of an official of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat: “The islands are hardly going to sell a lot of coconuts and fish to each other.”
15-May-2009
Brooks Foreign Policy Review
Over the last decade, ASEAN has negotiated free trade agreements (FTA) at breakneck speeds, signing deals with Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. It is also in the process of negotiating FTAs with India, South Korea, and China. The deal with China has garnered much attention, because it will create the third largest common market by trade volume, with a population of 1.8 billion and a US$2 trillion Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
14-May-2009
American Chronicle
US Senator Bob Casey, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs, and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Dick Lugar sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke calling for the finalizing of a bilateral investment treaty (BIT) with Russia to encourage US business deals and investments in Russia.
14-May-2009
The News-Sentinel
The United Steelworkers and other US union activists are touring the Midwest by bus advocating foreign trade and health care reforms and a “buy American” mentality, saying increasing poverty and long lines at food pantries are a result of jobs lost to the Central American Free Trade Agreement, North American Free Trade Agreement and other free trade policies.
14-May-2009
Huffington Post
Despite the claims of the Colombian government and those in the U.S., Canada and the EU eager to consummate "free trade" pacts with that regime, the human rights situation in that country is deteriorating fast. Indeed, by key measures — the killing of unionists, extra-judicial killings by the military, and the forced displacement of civilians — Colombia’s human rights situation is amongst the worst in the world and getting worse. In the case of union killings, it remains the very worst.
