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Pakistan, Korea to explore possibility of FTA
15-Aug-2008 APP
Pakistan and the Republic of Korea will explore the possibility of concluding a Free Trade Agreement (FTA)
Southern Africa: Angola to join free trade in two years
15-Aug-2008 AllAfrica.com
Angola will join the Free Trade Area (FTA) of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) in two to three years time.
Cameroon regrets economic agreement with EU Commission
15-Aug-2008 Africa News
In what looks like crying over spilt milk, Cameroon’s economic experts are spending sleepless nights seriously reflecting on the budgetary impact of the economic partnership agreement, EPA signed with the European Commission last December.
US family farmers applaud demise of Doha negotiations
15-Aug-2008 Common Dreams
"Farmers don’t export. Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill do. The corporate commodity groups are continuing to push for bilateral FTAs with South Korea, Colombia and pushed for the recent Peru FTA. Meanwhile they also scheme to keep in place a broken US subsidy system that allows US farmers to be paid below cost of production and agribusiness to dump cheap commodities into overseas markets, displacing farmers from Mexico to Indonesia to Ghana to Haiti, with no benefit to US farmers."
Petrocaribe: New regional food firm
15-Aug-2008 Prensa Latina
The PetroCaribe meeting on agriculture held Tuesday adopted several accords to face the international food crisis, among them the creation of a regional foodstuff enterprise. The company named Alba Alimentos (Alba Foods, after Venezuela’s integration initiative Alternativa Bolivariana de las Americas (ALBA)) will operate in member countries.
Andean Community approves reform without Bolivia - Peru-US free trade deal to move forward
14-Aug-2008 LIP
Peru’s minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Mercedes Aráoz, announced on Thursday that the Andean Community of Nations (CAN) approved to modify the norm regarding intellectual property, which will allow Peru to implement the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States.
Reject JPEPA, leaders of 66 NGOs appeal
14-Aug-2008 PDI
In a letter to Philippine Senate President Manuel Villar, 66 NGO leaders from around the world joined calls from local NGOs urging the Senate not to approve what they describe as a “flawed treaty” that promotes trade of toxic wastes.
Uruguay: After Doha, FTA with the EU and NAFTA fails once again
13-Aug-2008 Radio Mundo Real
Trade agreements with big blocs like the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or with the European Union have experienced a recent boost in Uruguay.
Group welcomes move to suspend Jpepa deliberations
13-Aug-2008 GMANews
A Filipino movement against “unfair" economic treaties on Wednesday welcomed Sen. Mar Roxas III’s move to suspend deliberations on the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa).
EU Parliament head discusses EU-Syria pact with Syrian president
13-Aug-2008 EJP
The President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering, discussed the future signature of a EU-Syria Association Agreement, during a meeting on Sunday in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.
Labor to pursue bilateral FTAs
13-Aug-2008 The Australian
Kevin Rudd has vowed to "vigorously pursue" bilateral trade agreements on his latest swing through Asia following the collapse of the world free trade talks in Geneva.
Caricom hopes to renegotiate EPA
13-Aug-2008 Jamaica Observer
Caribbean Community (Caricom) countries will sign the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Europe on September 2 as planned, but they are still hoping to renegotiate the deal afterwards, Caricom Chairman Baldwin Spencer has said.
‘EU is getting flexible on EPAs’
13-Aug-2008 New Era
Namibia is ready to put behind the unpleasant treatment it received from European Union negotiators during last year’s marathon negotiations on Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), which resulted in the country’s refusal to sign until its protests were heard.
Colombia as a Model for Latin America
12-Aug-2008 Dissident Voice
The US free trade agreement and the state and paramilitary violence in Colombia are part of the same project
Jpepa will worsen food crisis - group
12-Aug-2008 GMA News
The food crisis hounding the Philippines today may escalate if the government embarks on a full-scale liberalization of the economy under the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa), according to food security advocates.
Overfishing linked to food crisis, migration
12-Aug-2008 AllAfrica.com
According to a recent report by the nongovernmental organisation ActionAid, West African seas are being devastated by legal and illegal overfishing, while local fishing industries decline. Moreover, the economic partnership agreements in their currently proposed form only exacerbate this problem.
Guyanese Government to host public EPA consultations
12-Aug-2008 Barbados Advocate
Weeks ago President of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo, announced his scepticism on signing the Economic Partnership Agreement trade deal with the European Community. Now it has been revealed that the Guyanese government will be hosting public consultations on the proposed arrangement come the beginning of September.
Human rights, rule of law sticky issues in RP-EU pact
12-Aug-2008 Business Mirror
THE Philippines is seeking to settle sticky issues in the proposed partnership cooperation agreement (PCA) with the European Union which include government’s commitments to uphold human rights and rule of law in the country before the Asia Europe Meeting (Asem) Summit in Beijing in October this year.
Pakistan, US to resume stalled negotiations on BIT soon: US official
11-Aug-2008 APP
Pakistan and the United States have agreed to resume stalled negotiations on Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT), with the objective of deepening their strategic relations in various fields, a senior US official said Monday.
Australia seeks regional free trade deal
11-Aug-2008 The Age
Australia is hopeful of an early conclusion to a regional free trade agreement (FTA) with intensive negotiations underway, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith says. The potential deal between Australia, New Zealand and Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) was discussed at bilateral talks between Smith and his Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirajuda in Jakarta on Monday.