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SC ruling on JPEPA: Shackled by ‘entropy of the old tradition of secrecy’
22-Jul-2008 PCIJ
“WE must overcome the entropy of the old tradition of secrecy,” counseled Philippine Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno in his lengthy argument on the petition to have the government disclose details of the negotiations between the Philippines and Japan in relation to the Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA). Obviously, it was an advice that went largely unheeded as majority of his colleagues upheld for a second time the Arroyo government’s invocation of executive privilege.
Costa Rica targets trends for greater food exports
22-Jul-2008 foodnavigator.com
Costa Rican food companies are focusing on major trends like organics and social values to build their export platform, as an association agreement between the EU and Central America is expected to be reached in 2009.
US adopts pragmatic approach in FTA talks: MIER
22-Jul-2008 Borneo Post
“I don’t think they are going to adopt a very hardline approach with respect to us. I think they look at Malaysia as a modern Muslim country and want to have successful trade negotiations,” the director of the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research told Bernama. The problem is that the US is not confining the negotiations to purely trade matters.
SKorea health workers threaten strike over US beef, wages
21-Jul-2008 AFP
South Korean hospital workers on Monday threatened to strike this week to press demands including a ban on the use of US beef for patients’ meals.
SC JPEPA decision turns Filipino people into beggars of information on critical national issues
21-Jul-2008 SC JPEPA decision turns Filipino people into beggars of information on critical national issues
The Fair Trade Alliance (FairTrade), whose affiliates are among the petitioners on the lack of government transparency in trade negotiations, denounces the cowardly decision of the Supreme Court on the Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA). Said decision upholds the secrecy of executive treaty-making exercise even if such treaty puts Philippine jobs and industries at risk.
Pak-US trade and investment framework agreement has yet to get off the ground
21-Jul-2008 Jang
Back in June 2003, then Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz, who had signed the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement on Pakistan’s behalf, said that Pakistan hoped the TIFA would eventually lead to a Free Trade Agreement between the two countries. But neither at that time nor in all the years since then has there been any promise from the US side to follow-up on a Free Trade Agreement.
Progress made at eighth round of Malaysia-US FTA talks
21-Jul-2008 Bernama
Malaysia and the United States have achieved progress at the eighth round of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations with both sides showing willingness to resolve outstanding issues.
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.