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Narongchai: Put pacts on a faster track
23-Aug-2008
The government needs to address existing legal issues that impede international trade agreements, says Narongchai Akrasanee, a member of the cabinet’s economic advisory team.
Pakistan and Indonesia negotiating to sign Free Trade Agreement
22-Aug-2008
Indonesia and Pakistan are actively engaged in negotiations to sign Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which would help in raising the volume of bilateral trade up to one billion dollars mark.
Caribbean integration and global Europe: Implications of the EPA for the CSME
22-Aug-2008 Norman Girvan
This paper critically assesses the compatibility of the CARIFORUM-EC EPA with the proposed CARICOM Single Market and Economy—CSME. The main conclusion is that the CSME, a project for the creation/strengthening of the regional economy for engagement with globalisation, will be superseded by the EPA, which involves a high degree of bilateral integration of individual Cariforum countries with Europe in trade, investment and regulatory policies.
Peru: indigenous uprising claims victory — for now
22-Aug-2008 WW4 Report
Indigenous groups in Peru ended more than a week of militant protests Aug. 20 at key energy sites after lawmakers agreed to overturn a new land law issued by President Alan García, which sought to ease corporate access to communal territories. García had issued the law by decree earlier under special powers Congress granted him to bring Peruvian law into compliance with a new free-trade deal with the US. A congressional commission voted to revoke the law Aug. 19, and floor vote is expected later this week.
S Korea-EU starts tackling sensitive issues of FTA
22-Aug-2008 Xinhua
Top negotiators of South Korea and the European Union (EU) will meet in Seoul next week to seek progress in their free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations by tackling sensitive issues, the Korea herald reported Thursday.
Backing out
22-Aug-2008 The Nation
Barbados Prime Minister David Thompson has called for an urgent meeting of the CARICOM heads of government ahead of the scheduled September 2 signing of the Economic Partnership Agreement.
Latin America’s free trade agreements with the European Union - An agenda for domination
21-Aug-2008 GRAIN
The EU is currently negotiating FTAs with Central America, the Andean Community of Nations and Mercosur. Its objective is to use these agreements to complete the privatisation process, to remove restrictions on European property and activity in the region, to acquire full access to natural resources and to obtain guarantees that European companies will be able to operate with clear advantages over national companies. Moreover, all these concessions granted to European companies are to be protected from any political changes that the peoples of the region might want to undertake in the future.
Side deal stalls debate on Japan pact
21-Aug-2008 Manila Standard
Philippine senators have suspended debates on the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement pending a clarification by the Foreign Affairs and Trade departments as well as the Japanese government on the status of a side agreement that will address constitutional issues raised by lawmakers.
Fair deals a Pacific pipedream
21-Aug-2008 Canberra Times
One juicy Australian-grown aid patty, some aromatic seasonal labour sauce all held together within the iron clad guarantee of two trade liberalising pieces of white bread and a smattering of forest carbon partnership-flavoured fries. What financially famished island state could resist?
GCC criticises EU for delaying free trade deal
21-Aug-2008 Zawya
Gulf oil producers have criticised the European Union (EU) for delaying the signing of a landmark free trade agreement (FTA) that could support their long-standing bid to diversify their oil-reliant economies.
Germany approves law against some foreign investor actions
20-Aug-2008 IHT
The German government on Wednesday approved a law that would allow it to block moves by foreign investors to take large stakes in German companies, if it concludes that they endanger the country’s interests.
EU is delaying EPA negotiation process - TWN
20-Aug-2008
Mr. Gyekye Tanoh, an official of the Third World Network (TWN), a civil society organization, on Wednesday blamed delays in the Economic Partnership Agreements process on the European Union (EU) saying they were manipulating the negotiation process to suit them.
FTA launch boost for regional integration
20-Aug-2008
The launch of the Sadc Free Trade Area is a momentous occasion for the region as it makes further strides towards regional integration.
EPAs: The new game of divide and rule
20-Aug-2008 LaRRI
It will be critical in the coming months to mobilise resistance to the implementation of the Interim EPA in its current format and thereby strengthen the Namibian Government’s hand not to sign a final EPA with the EU. Namibia should also link up with African and international campaigns against EPAs, which have emerged in the past few years. The battle is not lost but there is little time left to prevent EPAs from becoming a new and powerful tool to promote EU interests at the expense of Africa’s development needs. A new publication from the Labour Resource and Research Institute (LaRRI).
Pacific civil society organisations statement on trade justice
20-Aug-2008
Pacific NGOs, churches and trade unions working on trade justice issues are concerned about the push for free trade agreements in the Pacific and the grave risk that these agreements pose for our people.
Fiji: Trade justice statement released
20-Aug-2008 Radio Fiji
Pacific NGOs, churches and unions have released a joint statement on trade justice in the Pacific warning of the costs of a free trade deal with Australia and NZ, and urging Pacific leaders to be wary that a new seasonal workers’ scheme could be used as a bargaining chip to enter free trade negotiations.
Australian-Chile Free Trade Agreement - The "new freedom!"
20-Aug-2008 Mondaq
The AC-FTA represents a new generation of Free Trade Agreements and establishes a broad level of market access. Australian companies are certain to benefit,
St Lucia concern about EPA
20-Aug-2008 Radio Jamaica
St Lucia’s Prime Minister, Stephenson King says his country wants concerns addressed about the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) the region has negotiated with the European Union.
Junta benefits from regional economic tug-of-war
20-Aug-2008 Mizzima
India and ASEAN have announced that talks on services and investment are set to commence next month ahead of a comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA) to be signed later this year. This latest step in deepening regional economic integration is further evidence of an ever expanding matrix of competing regional economic interests, which Burma finds itself at the heart of.
Peru: Native groups protest laws facilitating sales of land
20-Aug-2008 IPS
Since Aug. 9, indigenous demonstrators have been demanding the repeal of two decree laws that promote private investment in their territory, and the reestablishment of a clause from the 1979 constitution — which was replaced by the new constitution in 1993 — which stated that communally owned land in indigenous territory could not be sold or embargoed. The decree laws were approved by the executive branch under special powers granted by the legislature for the implementation of the free trade agreement signed with the United States.