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EU/US FTAs and Malaysian SMEs
11-Jul-2008
Malaysia is currently negotiating an FTA with the USA and the European Union and as with any North-South FTAs their scope are extensive. The Third World Network has produced a preliminary report looking at the likely impact of these FTAs on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia.
Hidden hooks emerge in China FTA
11-Jul-2008 Stuff
New Zealand’s free-trade agreement with China contains hidden hooks that could seriously damage the country’s tourism, building and manufacturing industries.
Threat to plans for trade pact
11-Jul-2008 Stuff
Indonesia’s ban on New Zealand beef could threaten plans to sign a lucrative free-trade pact with South-east Asian nations this year, industry officials say.
Mass movement halts the neo-liberal bulldozer
11-Jul-2008 Newscham.net
No one is sure how successful the movement will be in stopping the importation of American beef into Korea but it has certainly fractured the seemingly monolithic aura of President Lee and his neo-liberal bulldozer and will perhaps spark a new generation of class struggle in South Korea.
Hyundai workers strike over US beef
10-Jul-2008 Business Week
Workers at Hyundai Motor Co. staged a partial strike Thursday over stalled annual wage negotiations with management and the resumption of US beef imports.
Nobel Economist Stiglitz criticises EPA
10-Jul-2008 GNA
Professor Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Laureate in Economics, on Tuesday urged the government of Ghana to "take a cold hard look" at the Economic Partnership Agreement and negotiate its inimical aspects away, saying that the deal was not free but an extremely managed trade agreement.
Stop the EU taking the Caribbean for a ride
10-Jul-2008 Caribbean Net News
It has become patently evident that the European Union is taking the Caribbean for a ride over the Economic Partnership Agreement initialled last December. The Caribbean has to stop the ride and renegotiate the deeply troubling aspects of the EPA before any signing takes place.
Youth group slams crackdown on protesters at G8
9-Jul-2008 GMANews
Militant Filipino youths scored Tuesday what they called the repression against protesters at the G-8 summit in Hokkaido, Japan, and demanded the release of the arrested protesters. In a letter to Japanese ambassador Makoto Katsura dated July 8, the youths also reiterated their opposition to the Japan Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).
SKorea, Gulf states agree to forge free trade deal next year
9-Jul-2008 AFP
South Korea and six Gulf states agreed Wednesday to forge a free trade deal by the end of next year, a chief negotiator from the Seoul side said.
Wiroon: Thai-Indian FTA set to expand
9-Jul-2008 Bangkok Post
Thailand hopes to ratify a full free-trade agreement with India within this year if the political situations in the two countries don’t change, according to Deputy Commerce Minister Wiroon Techapaiboon.
Intellectual property in the EPA: broad scope, huge impact - Part 1
9-Jul-2008 Jamaica Observer
The historic Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) skilfully brokered last December between the Caribbean Forum of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (CARIFORUM) and the European Community (EC) is impressively wide in its scope, but the impact of its implementation in countries such as Jamaica is still largely unexplored.
Costa Rica: EU not interested in free-trade agreement
9-Jul-2008 Tico Times
Costa Rican officials announced they are not satisfied with the market opening proposal issued by the European Union (EU) prior to the beginning of the fourth round of negotiations for an eventual EU-Central America agreement. Costa Rican trade officials stated that they “do not perceive an interest on the part of the Europeans to advance the process.”
Free trade’s false promises
9-Jul-2008 The Guardian
According to new estimates by the UN Economic Commission for Latin America, the US-Colombia free trade agreement will actually make Colombia worse off by up to $75m or one-tenth of 1% of its GDP.
Peru farmers block roads, Machu Picchu rail
9-Jul-2008 Reuters
Peruvian farmers angry at President Alan Garcia’s free-trade policies began a two-day strike on Tuesday, snarling traffic in the country’s interior and closing rail service to the Inca ruins at Machu Picchu.
Intellectual property in the US-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement
8-Jul-2008 CIEL
Written by Luis Alonso Garcia, former head negotiator for Peru for the Intellectual Property Chapter of the FTA with the United States, this paper examines the US-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement as an example of the challenges and opportunities, especially for civil society participation, presented by such negotiations.
APE : Un rapport qui conforte les frondeurs
8-Jul-2008 LeFasoNet
Taubira dénonce sans détour le libéralisme tous azimuts dont les APE sont un des reflets. Pour elle, la politique économique européenne a rendu l’Afrique dépendante et les APE, dans leur formule actuelle, ne feront que perpétuer ces rapports inégaux. Si ce discours fait l’affaire de ceux qui se montrent sceptiques vis-à-vis de la nouvelle relation économique que l’Europe veut instaurer avec l’Afrique, il embarrasse à bien des égards Nicolas Sarkozy, le commanditaire du rapport.
Vaste mobilisation sud-coréenne
8-Jul-2008 L’Humanité
Le lien entre « la crise du boeuf » et les accords de libre-échange est évident. « À travers l’un, nous luttons contre l’autre, explique-t-on. Même si c’est un lien que ne font pas tous ceux qui descendent dans la rue aujourd’hui. Notre mouvement exige la rectification des accords conclus en avril de l’an dernier. Ceux-ci concernent durablement la vie de tous les citoyens, les paysans en premier lieu. »
Chile-Uruguay sign strategic association; rap EU on migration
8-Jul-2008 MercoPress
The Strategic Association Agreement signed by both countries promotes trade relations and cooperation in foreign affairs regarding shared principles in areas such as global trade, UN security policies and human rights.
Ecowas: EU policy supersedes Ghana’s interim EPA deal
8-Jul-2008 Myjoyonline
Ghana would by September next year cease to adhere to the rules and conditions of the Interim Economic Partnership Agreement that it signed with the European Commission in December 2007 when the ECOWAS-EU policy comes into force.
Why Nigeria refused to sign EPA - ECOWAS
8-Jul-2008 Leadership Nigeria
The ECOWAS Trade Commissioner, Mohammed Daramy, has given some of the many reasons why Nigeria refused to sign the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) which deadline expired on December 31, 2007.