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NAFTA and the elephant in the room
20-Jul-2008 Tehran Times
The biggest challenge now to our networks is not to centralize the struggle and the critique but to understand our differences. We have a pretty good understanding of the architecture built by NAFTA and added onto in the SPP. We need to continue to work together to analyze its foundations and mainstays.
Chronology - CARIFORUM/EPA agreement
20-Jul-2008 Jamaica Gleaner
In the light of the ongoing debate on the economic partnership agreement (EPA), the Jamaican Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade has released a chronology of the CARIFORUM EC/EPA negotiations
’ROK postpones FTA talks over Takeshima reference’
20-Jul-2008 Daily Yomiuri
Talks between Japan and South Korea on resuming negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement have been postponed indefinitely after Seoul said it was unhappy over a reference to the Takeshima islets in school handbooks
Local businesses unhappy with CEPA
20-Jul-2008 Sunday Times
A group of eminent Sri Lankan businesses went public this week objecting to the signing of the Indo-Lanka Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). The local businesses are questioning the need for a CEPA agreement and are objecting to the lack of transparency in the process.
Pakistan, Morocco to accelerate work on PTA, FTA
20-Jul-2008 APP
Pakistan and Morocco have agreed to accelerate work on Preferential Trade Agreement and Free Trade Agreement at the conclusion of the First Session of the Joint Ministerial Commission between the two countries held in Rabat on July 17-18, 2008.
SADC not ready for customs union: Tralac
20-Jul-2008 SABC News
Business chambers from southern Africa believe that talk of a single Southern African Development Community (SADC) Customs Union - that would replace the Southern African Customs Unions (SACU) and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) - is premature until a SADC Free Trade Area (FTA) is fully in place.
Tomatoes or children?
19-Jul-2008 AFL-CIO Now blog
It is gratifying that our government will go to such lengths to stamp out a dangerous bacterium. It is less encouraging to know that the inspectors were not looking at massive labor rights violations, especially the systematic employment of young children in hazardous conditions, which have existed in the tomato industry for decades.
EU-Ghana interim EPA (2008)
19-Jul-2008
ASEAN to push for free trade deals: document
18-Jul-2008 AFP
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is expected to endorse a continued push for free trade agreements with Australia & New Zealand, the EU and India during talks this weekend, a draft document said Friday.
US-EAC TIFA (2008)
18-Jul-2008
Guyana asks for more time on EPA
17-Jul-2008 Caribbean World News
The Guyana government wants more time to consider "troubling" aspects of the Economic Partnership Agreement with the EU. "No Government can be deaf to the outcry of important groups in its society," Guyana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carolyn Rodrigues, said. "We are democracies, not command economies. If our populations do not believe the agreement is in their interest, if they believe it has been imposed upon them, it will not work."
’SC ruling on JPEPA may lead to one-sided trade deals’
17-Jul-2008 ABS-CBN
The No Deal! Movement, which has actively campaigned against the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement said that the Supreme Court decision to uphold secrecy of Philippine government negotiations over trade deals "will set a dangerous precedent, legitimizing the marginalization of ordinary Filipinos from having access to pertinent information on economic treaties such as JPEPA that will have a deep impact on their interest and livelihood"
US signs trade pacts with African countries
17-Jul-2008 Reuters
The United States signed a pair of agreements on Wednesday to boost trade and investment ties with countries in southern and eastern Africa, the US Trade Representative’s office said.
US, African countries sign first trade agreement
17-Jul-2008 Xinhua
Trade ministers from the United States and the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) signed Wednesday their first Trade, Investment and Development Cooperation Agreement (TIDCA).
Intellectual property in the EPA: Broad scope huge impact - Part II
17-Jul-2008 Jamaica Observer
Jamaica enacted legislation for the protection of GIs through the Protection of Geographical Indications Act of 2004. However, protection under the law strictly complies with the standards laid out in the TRIPS Agreement and does not contemplate the "TRIPS plus" and "TRIPS extra" elements incorporated in the EPA.
EU-CAN negotiations: Biodiversity in the crosshairs
16-Jul-2008 Radio Mundo Real
Bolivia’s position on intellectual property rights, on the one hand, and biodiversity, on the other, had earlier put a damper on Colombia and Peru’s drive to sign a trade deal with the US and is now affecting that to reach one with "the 27".
Palestine in the Middle East: Opposing neoliberalism and US power
16-Jul-2008 The Bullet
It is not merely the depth of suffering or length of exile that makes the Palestinian struggle an imperative of international solidarity in the current period. It is also the central location of the struggle within the broader context of global resistance to imperialism and neoliberalism. At the heart of this regional framework is the intrinsic relationship between the development of neoliberal capitalism in the Middle East and normalization of relations with Israel. All of the efforts of the US and their client regimes in the region are aimed at promoting these.
M’sia-US FTA - stop negotiations immediately
16-Jul-2008 Malaysiakini
We are shocked and disappointed to find that the government is persisting with the Malaysia- US Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations despite all the protests and the fact that the US government is in transition. The latest round begins on Monday, July 14 in Washington, DC.
SC affirms ‘executive privilege’ on JPEPA negotiations
16-Jul-2008 PDI
The Philippine Supreme Court has upheld the “executive privilege” invoked by the government in refusing to accede to a request by several lawmakers, and partylist and militant groups for a full disclosure of its negotiations with Japan involving the controversial trade agreement.
BANGO petitioning for better EPA deal
16-Jul-2008 The Nation
The Barbados Association of NGOs (BANGO) is seeking 5 000 signatures for a petition calling on Government to work out a better Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Europe.