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Avert a new failed Mediterranean scheme
5-Feb-2008
The French have shown new initiative in the Maghreb through the idea of creating a Mediterranean Union. How serious is this project and what will its importance be amid existing European Union projects in the region, especially the Euro-Med project?
Look to Europe, not the US
5-Feb-2008 Borneo Post
Negotiations on a free trade agreement between Malaysia and the United States have hit a sticky patch. There are 58 issues still unresolved and no fixed date scheduled for the sixth round of talks.
EU cool to free trade deal with Canada
5-Feb-2008 CanWest
The European Union, being pressured to support the launch of free trade negotiations at the next Canada-EU annual summit in Montreal this fall, is showing only lukewarm enthusiasm for the idea.
Growers, users in NAFTA faceoff
5-Feb-2008 Palm Beach Post
Fourteen years after approval of the North American Free Trade Agreement, a behind-the-scenes struggle is being waged over one of its last provisions — the unrestricted trade of sugar between the United States and Mexico.
NZ welcomes US entering P4 trade talks
5-Feb-2008 stuff
Trade Minister Phil Goff has welcomed the United States decision to join negotiations with New Zealand and three other countries on a joint financial services and investment agreement.
Mexico won’t curb sugar imports that increase surplus
3-Feb-2008 Bloomberg
Mexican Agriculture Minister Alberto Cardenas said the government won’t act to curb imports of US sugar that domestic producers say will add to a surplus, reducing prices and profit. Instead, Mexican and US companies should sort out their own limits, he said.
Guyana and Indonesia sign reciprocal trade agreement
2-Feb-2008 Caribbean Net News
Minister of Foreign Trade and International Cooperation Dr Henry Jeffrey and Indonesia’s Ambassador to Guyana, Suprijanto Muhadi on Wednesday signed an agreement on the promotion and protection of investments in the two countries.
Devil in the detail of FTA
2-Feb-2008 NZ Herald
Once the brouhaha dies down and cabinet ministers pass through the self-congratulatory phase, the hard questions will start over just how good a deal the New Zealand Government has got with China on behalf of New Zealand businesses and farmers.
EPA divides AU
2-Feb-2008 AfricaNews
The controversial Economic Partnership Agreements has divided the African Union as the Heads of State and Government attending the AU Summit are yet to take a decision on the issues.
ALBA, an economic alternative for Latin America
2-Feb-2008 Venezuelanalysis
The sixth conference of the Latin American alternative trade alliance known as ALBA—which stands for the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas and means “Dawn” in Spanish—was held in Caracas on January 25-26. The brainchild of Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro, ALBA was founded by Cuba and Venezuela in 2004 as a fair trade alternative to US-backed free trade policies and is made possible thanks to Venezuela’s oil money.
Analysis: China beats West in Africa
2-Feb-2008 UPI
By offering itself to former colonies as a more attractive and respectful trading partner, China initiated Africa’s refusal to put up with the EU’s demanding policies.
Singapore, Gulf Cooperation Council agree on free trade pact
2-Feb-2008 Earth Times
The Singapore government said Thursday it has substantively concluded negotiations with the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council for a free trade agreement. The final round of talks, held from 28-31 January 2008, was the last of four that started in January 2007.
Mar Roxas’s defeatist attitude
1-Feb-2008 Mar Roxas’s defeatist attitude
In a last ditch effort to make solons listen to reason, Bobby Tanada and the Fair Trade Alliance (FTA) gave a rebuttal to the ‘tabla-talo’ logic of Senator Mar Roxas concerning the Japan Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).
Conditional approval of RP-Japan deal proposed
1-Feb-2008 Conditional approval of RP-Japan deal proposed
Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago yesterday said she will propose a “conditional” Senate approval of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA), pointing out that the wide-ranging free trade deal needed to be amended or else be rejected by the Supreme Court for being in conflict with the Constitution.
Mexican farmers stage protest over US imports
1-Feb-2008 Reuters
Thousands of Mexican farmers, some herding cows, flooded into the capital on Thursday and set a tractor on fire to demand government protection against cheap US farm imports under NAFTA.
El Salvador: Benefits of free trade deal still remote
1-Feb-2008 Upside Down World
The Salvadoran government had proclaimed that from the moment of its entry into force, the free trade agreement with the United States would boost the local economy, creating thousands of jobs, so that even street vendors would be exporting their typical snacks. But nearly two years later, the economic paradise has yet to arrive.
Interview: US to push free trade in Middle East
31-Jan-2008 Al Bawaba
Carlos M. Gutierrez, the influential and persuasive US Secretary of Commerce plans to use a keynote business conference in Jordan to press home the ambition of the Bush administration to see the establishment of a regional US-Middle East Free Trade Area by the deadline of 2013.
Food sovereignty and free-trade agreements
31-Jan-2008 Via Campesina
From 11th to 13th January 2008, 21 delegates and members of Via Campesina, from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Peru, South Korea, Norway, France, Haiti, Mali, Italy, the United States, Mozambique, Turkey, the Basque Country and Nepal, met in Dijon for a strategic seminar on the theme “Food Sovereignty and Free-Trade Agreements” convened and organised by the Via Campesina’s Food Sovereignty work committee.
Malawi: Caught between two economic blocs
31-Jan-2008 IPS
Malawi finally has to face up to the dilemma of choosing between being a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) or to stick with the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) if it is to continue receiving funding from the European Union.
Sri Lanka negotiates more trade, investment deals
31-Jan-2008 Lanka Business Online
Sri Lanka is negotiating more free trade and investment deals with other countries to increase trade and foreign investment. Two rounds of talks were held in January with India and Pakistan on free trade and investment agreements while the first negotiations on an investment promotion and protection agreement with Kuwait was concluded on January 30. The Sri Lanka-Kuwait negotiations will be followed by negotiations on a Sri Lanka-Jordan Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement