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FTA negotiations with Malaysia to resume next week
8-Sep-2008 NZPA
Negotiations to secure a free trade agreement (FTA) with Malaysia will resume next week, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said today.
Leave it and save RP sovereignty, senators urged on JPEPA
8-Sep-2008
As Sen. Miriam Santiago advises opposition senators to “love or leave” the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA), research group IBON Foundation urges the Philippine Senate to choose the non-ratification of the deal and help reclaim the country’s economic sovereignty.
Exchange of notes between RP, Japan for Jpepa ‘useless,’ says Tañada
8-Sep-2008 Exchange of notes between RP, Japan for Jpepa ‘useless,’ says Tañada
FORMER senator and Fair Trade Alliance (FTA) lead convenor Wigberto Tañada labeled the exchange of notes between Manila and Tokyo for the Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa) as “useless” as it failed to address the numerous constitutional issues that were raised by several sectors against the deal.
RI demands OZ, NZ open up service markets under FTA
8-Sep-2008 Jakarta Post
Indonesia has proposed the liberalization of professional and service sectors in Australia and New Zealand under the free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries and ASEAN members.
EPA signing fiasco: a high-stakes gamble
7-Sep-2008 Jamaica Gleaner
As matters stand, Trinidad, Jamaica, Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Belize, The Bahamas and St Vincent have said that they want to sign; St Lucia says it will not; Guyana is holding a public consultation; Grenada wants more time; and there is silence from almost all other Cariforum states. Meanwhile, some opposition parties have publicly disassociated themselves, most notably, in Jamaica and Antigua.
India-EU trade talks to resume ahead of Paris summit
7-Sep-2008 Economic Times
After clinching a deal with ASEAN on a Free Trade Agreement, negotiations will resume this week for a market-opening pact between India and EU, ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and French President Nicolas Sarkozy holding their summit talks in Paris later this month.
Proliferation of FTAs in ASEAN may impede business activities
5-Sep-2008
Asian economic integration is facing some of its toughest challenges in the form of regional diversity and gaps in modernisation.
China, Singapore agree on free trade accord
5-Sep-2008
China and Singapore concluded negotiations on a free trade agreement, China’s first with another Asian country, news reports said Friday. The agreement, finalised in talks this week between Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng and Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan in the northern coastal Chinese city of Tianjin, is likely to be signed at the Asia Europe Meeting Summit in Beijing Oct 24-25.
The Doha deal breaker
5-Sep-2008 Gulf Times
In our free trade gone-wild world, property rights are being applied in areas where they have never before existed and may not pertain (such as intellectual products, services, biodiversity, genetics), and governments have not learned to use their sovereignty to advance multilateralism for both their individual interests and the global common good. There must be a new starting point, based on the recognition of an added dimension in world trade — the realisation that some goods are private (commercial), some are public (governmental), and others are common (for the benefit of people everywhere).
Bilateral trade-off
5-Sep-2008 WSJ
The latest sign that the postwar era of "multilateral" trade liberalization has ended came last week in Singapore.
Some senators considering JPEPA renegotiation
5-Sep-2008 Inquirer.net
A number of Philippine senators are considering calling for a renegotiation of the Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) as a “way out” of the debate over the pact
Dominica to sign EU trade agreement, avoid tariffs
5-Sep-2008 IHT
Dominica says it will sign a trade agreement with the European Union despite opposition from other Caribbean leaders.
India: After Asean, trade pacts with Japan, Korea on the cards
5-Sep-2008 Business Standard
After successfully sealing the talks for a free trade agreement (FTA) covering goods with the Association of South East Asian nations (Asean), India is pushing on the pedal to wind up negotiations for two Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements (CEPAs) involving free trade of goods, services and investments with Japan and South Korea.
China-Singapore: Free trade accord reached
5-Sep-2008 ST
The bilateral FTA is broader and deeper than the Asean-China Free Trade Agreement, whose investment component still remains to be settled.
Singapore, China announce successful conclusion of FTA talks
5-Sep-2008 Channel News Asia
Singapore and China have successfully completed negotiations for the China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (CSFTA). It is the first comprehensive bilateral Free Trade Agreement concluded by China with an Asian country.
Sayonara JPEPA
5-Sep-2008 YouTube
Filipinos say no to the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement
Standing firm and acting together against EPAs!
5-Sep-2008
The EPAs are not fundamentally concerned about African development but are designed to further the geo-economic aims of the ‘Global Europe’ strategy being pushed from Brussels in the interest of European corporations and capital. Declaration from Africa Trade Network.
Free trade or false logic? Exploring the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement
5-Sep-2008 The Dominion
If the FTA between Canada and Colombia is not so much about lowering tariffs and improving market access for Colombian exporters, what are the benefits of this kind of agreement, and to which economic sectors will these benefits flow?
Indonesia experience debunks claims of JPEPA advocates of increased economic gains
4-Sep-2008 IBON
As proponents of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) continue to warn against the possibility of being left out if the pact is not ratified, the experience of Indonesia shows that its own bilateral deal with Japan has not resulted in increased economic gains.
The Southern Bank: the result of the struggle of movements
4-Sep-2008 Choike
The Southern Bank is not just a bank, not even a further development bank. It is the expression of the struggle against a model that takes out resources from the poorest nations. If this bank no longer manages to represent such expression and becomes more of the same, the movement will have a new institution to resist.