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EAC to carry out worker’s survey
The East African Community is to conduct a regional manpower survey to establish the workforce base in the regional market ahead of coming into effect of the Common Market for East Africa in 2010.
JPEPA ’edges’ toward Senate ratification
The controversial free trade agreement between the Philippines and Japan is "edging" toward ratification with 12 senators signing a committee report recommending its approval by the Senate, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago said Tuesday.
CEPA draws flak
The political parties debated the pros and cons of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in Parliament yesterday with the JVP and its breakaway group which is now called the National Freedom Front (NFF) asking the government to scrap it.
Korean activists to protest Bush’s visit
Left-wing activists are hoping to use Bush’s two-day visit to Korea to press for a renegotiation of the beef deal and reignite the candlelight protest movement. The protest will also raise calls to nullify a bilateral free trade agreement and withdraw Korean troops from Iraq.
Kamal Nath calls for greater Indian access to Japanese agriculture market
Shri Kamal Nath, India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry has expressed hope that the India-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) could be concluded during the next round of talks which are scheduled to be held in New Delhi in September 2008.
Former USTRs talk trade
Four former architects of US trade policy, sharing nearly 20 years of negotiating experience between them and spanning three administrations, laid out to Congress last week their blueprints for a future agenda.
Dhaka mulls free trade pacts with India, Pak, Sri Lanka
Bangladesh has decided to sign bilateral free trade agreements (FTA) with three major South Asian trading partners - India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka - in view of the failure of multilateral trading arrangements to serve the country’s interests.
Brussels and Israel. EU agreement reached to liberalise trade in Agricultural and Fishery Products
Negotiators have reached a preliminary agreement to further liberalise trade in agricultural and processed agricultural products and fish and fishery products between the European Union and the State of Israel
Regional FTA to be born soon
The signing of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Free Trade Area is set for August 17, and member states want to walk into the signing occasion with all the fanfare and ceremony.
FTAs crash into Australian car makers
The Bracks review of the car industry is expected to urge the Federal Government to take a stronger line in negotiating free trade agreements after the review’s hearings became a flashpoint for dissent over the Thai free trade agreement (FTA).
Progress in CEPA Talks with India
Korean negotiators say talks with Indian officials to strike a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement produced considerable progress.
Spotlight turns to EPA’s as Doha talks fail
With the failure of the Doha development round trade talks fresh in everyone’s minds, the focus now shifts to the equally controversial Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA’s).
Decision on FTA with India, Pakistan, Lanka likely today
The government will finally take a decision in a meeting today on signing of a free trade agreement (FTA) with its neighbouring trading partners India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Pamalakaya to spearhead ’Jpepa free zone’ campaign
A Filipino fisherfolk alliance is set to lead an across-the-country campaign to oppose the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa), which is still pending ratification in the Senate.
Free trade accord may pose problems for female workers
Problems of female workers are expected to increase with the full implementation of the Free Trade Agreement reached between Bahrain and the United States that completed its second year on Friday.
Official: Mexico open to new NAFTA talks
The Mexican government dismisses talk of disbanding NAFTA as politics, the country’s economy minister said Friday, but it would back the idea of a new round of North American trade talks, with the aim of including issues such as the environment and labor.
Trade focus shifts
With the collapse of the World Trade Organization talks this week, members of the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) forum are looking forward to working out a deal that would help its 21 members.
Japan trade deal imperils Filipino fishers
Groups opposed to the bilateral economic agreement between Japan and the Philippines expressed fears that its ratification could lead to an inflow of secondhand Japanese ships - similar to the MV Princess of the Stars, a ferry owned by Sulpicio Lines, which sank last month at the height of Typhoon Frank (also known as Typhoon Fengshen).
Barriers hamper trade within EAC countries
Border barriers remain the biggest challenge to the realization of cross-border trading within the East Africa Community, EAC.
Trade winds are not blowing our way
The World Trade Organisation negotiations to conclude the Doha trade round have broken down. Although Commerce Minister Kamal Nath prefers to treat it as a “pause, not a breakdown”, the prospects for salvaging them are dismal.