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Crunch week for world’s oldest customs union
3-Mar-2008 Business Day
Sacu trade ministers meet in Gaborone with European Commission trade head Peter Mandelson tomorrow in a bid to break a stalemate over the economic partnership agreement the region is negotiating with the European Union. Mooted as an opportunity to harmonise the region’s trade arrangements with its biggest trading partner and deepen regional integration, the EPA has achieved the opposite. It has divided the region and is threatening to split it permanently.
Sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) concerns in agricultural trade
3-Mar-2008
As free trade agreements lower agricultural tariffs, more countries may turn to SPS measures to protect their farmers from import competition.
Singapore to sign FTA with Gulf countries
3-Mar-2008 Business 24
The Singapore-UAE bilateral FTA talks have been abandoned for a broader GCC-Singapore FTA. The negotiations were progressing for some time but now they have shifted to the GCC level and we are about to sign an agreement.
Thai-Chinese FTA leaves a bad taste with garlic growers
3-Mar-2008 Earth Times
A partial free trade agreement (FTA) between Thailand and China has led to a decline in Thailand’s garlic output by 22 per cent in three years, a study revealed Sunday.
Obama and Clinton: Anti-NAFTA
1-Mar-2008 Milenio
Two aspiring candidates for the democratic presidential nomination made it clear in the Ohio debate that the US will abandon NAFTA if its environmental and labour standards are not renegotiated.
Costa Rican Indigenous protest FTA
29-Feb-2008 Prensa Latina
Hundreds of Costa Rican indigenous people began a protest against the Free Trade Agreement between Central America, the Dominican Republic and the United States. They accused the FTA of imposing the use of patented seeds that prevent traditional crops and warned that the use of transgenic seeds from the United States would affect ancestral crops closely linked to the people’s view of the world and spirituality.
Saarc ministers to talk outlines of investment protection accord
29-Feb-2008 Daily Star
Broad outlines of an investment promotion and protection agreement among Saarc countries are expected to be discussed at a meeting of South Asian commerce ministers this week.
Peru ready for 2nd round FTA talks with China
29-Feb-2008 China Daily
Peru is ready for a second round of talks for a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) with China and has requested the presence of Peru’s Intellectual Property Institute (Indecopi) in the negotiations.
Australia-UAE: Third round of FTA talks in March
29-Feb-2008 Gulf News
The third round of talks for a possible free trade agreement (FTA) between the UAE and Australia is likely to take place next month
Japan stance threatens free trade
29-Feb-2008 The Australian
The Japanese Government has refused to offer Australia any serious concessions on agricultural import tariffs, the major barrier to a free trade agreement between the two countries.
Jordan wants agreement with the Mercosur
29-Feb-2008 ANBA
The Arab country sent to the secretariat of the Mercosur, at the end of last year, a request for a framework agreement with the South American bloc, which includes Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. The Mercosur is gong to start talks for a treaty with another Arab country, Morocco, in April, during a meeting in Rabat.
New US push for Mideast free trade deal
28-Feb-2008
US officials are engaged in "informal" talks with several GCC countries on possibly concluding a Middle East Free Trade Agreement (Mefta) by 2014, it was revealed yesterday.
Crean spruiks free trade in Pacific
28-Feb-2008
The tiny island nations of the south Pacific should have high ambitions heading into free trade negotiations with Australia, Trade Minister Simon Crean says.
FTA with El Salvador effective tomorrow
28-Feb-2008
The free trade agreement (FTA) between Taiwan and El Salvador is set to take effect tomorrow, Ministry of Economic Affairs officials said yesterday.
’We’ve messed up’ on EPAs - trade experts
28-Feb-2008 Swazi Observer
Even though Swaziland initialled an interim economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the European Union, trade experts acknowledge that the country ’messed up’ by doing so.
Private sector for India-US investment treaty by year-end
28-Feb-2008 Mangalorean
The US-India Private Sector Advisory Group has asked the two governments to negotiate a bilateral investment treaty by end of 2008 while continuing to promote sectoral openings.
Brussels proposes first ever framework for EU-Libya ties
28-Feb-2008 AFP
The European Commission said it would begin negotiating an agreement covering political, social, economic, commercial and cultural relations with Libya once it has received the green light from the bloc’s 27 member nations.
Caricom ’carry go bring come’
28-Feb-2008
Tomorrow, the Caribbean Community (Caricom) member states will assemble in Kingston to spend two days in a retreat on the conduct of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations. This is hard to believe.
House approves trade pact extension
28-Feb-2008
The US House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a 10-month extension of a trade program aimed at promoting imports from four Andean nations and thus discouraging the cultivation and production of illegal drugs.
AU ambassadors endorse AU stance on EPAs
28-Feb-2008
African group of ambassadors who on Friday met in Brussels expressed satisfaction at declaration of the AU assembly of heads of state and government on EPA negotiations.