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Sempra Energy awarded $172 million in Argentine arbitration
3-Oct-2007 CNN
The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington DC has awarded Sempra Energy approximately $172 million, including interest, to settle a 2002 dispute involving the company’s 43-percent ownership in two Argentine natural gas holding companies, Sodigas Pampeana and Sodigas Sur.
Philippine Senators ’could reject’ Japan free trade deal
3-Oct-2007 AFP
Philippine lawmakers are unlikely to ratify a free trade agreement with Japan in the deal’s present form, the president of the Southeast Asian nation’s Senate said Tuesday.
520 items to get tariff shield under India-EU trade pact
3-Oct-2007 Times of India
India’s commerce department is on a drive to identify 520 items that would be shielded from tariff cuts planned under the proposed India-EU bilateral trade and investment agreement. Tariffs on all other items will have to be reduced to zero in 10 years from the date of implementation of the agreement.
Senator says US needs "new vision" for trade
3-Oct-2007 Reuters
Washington needs to "think bigger" than it has in the past few years and look at possible trade deals with countries such as Taiwan, Indonesia, India and Japan, US Senate Democrat Max Baucus said.
Middle class incomes further behind since trade deal
3-Oct-2007 NDP
On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the negotiations of the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement, NDP International Trade Critic Peter Julian presented his analysis of the new figures from Statistics Canada that show a drastic increase in income inequality for most Canadian families since 1989.
Japan FTA all set for November
3-Oct-2007 Bangkok Post
The Thai and Japanese governments yesterday ironed out the last details before the free trade agreement takes effect on November 1. FTA Watch member Jacquechai Chomthongdi said the activist group would bring the case to the Constitutional Court as the new Thai constitution requires transparent consideration of all international treaties, including the trade deal signed with Japan.
Caribbean grapples with loss of EU sugar deal
3-Oct-2007 IPS
Last week, the EU unilaterally renounced a 32-year sugar protocol that had guaranteed fixed quotas and prices for ACP countries, with no clear indications of how exactly sugar will be treated in the new EPAs.
Myanmar should be excluded from ASEAN-EU free trade deal - EU parliamentarians
2-Oct-2007 Sharewatch
Myanmar should not be included in the free trade agreement (FTA) between the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the EU following the Yangon military regime’s crackdown on mass protests last week, according to members of the European Parliament visiting Singapore.
World Trade Organization accession agreements: intellectual property issues
1-Oct-2007
This paper addresses intellectual property issues that arise in the context of the WTO accession process
An analysis of the EC non-paper on the objectives and possible elements of an IP section in the EC-Pacific EPA
1-Oct-2007 ICTSD
The combination of the time-factor, the TRIPS-plus implications of many of the elements suggested by the EC, the challenges that would face non-WTO Pacific countries to even adhere to TRIPS and the general level of development in these countries, it is strongly recommended that Pacific countries do not agree to the inclusion of an IP section in the EC-Pacific EPA.
EU’s scrapping of sugar pact ’a slap in face’, says Caribbean
1-Oct-2007 Jamaica Observer
Caribbean trade and political officials are fuming at the European Union’s decision last Friday to scrap a 32-year-old agreement with African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) sugar-exporting countries, describing the action as "a slap in the face" of the region.
State’s favourite fish may escape duty-free import net
1-Oct-2007 The Hindu
Oil sardine and mackerel are likely to escape the list of duty-free import from Europe in the Indo-European Union trade and investment agreement, set to be signed late next year. The exemption is a major victory for fish workers.
Huge crowds in Costa Rica protest US pact
1-Oct-2007 Reuters
More than 100,000 Costa Ricans — a huge protest in a country of 4 million — protested a US trade pact on Sunday they say will flood their country with cheap farm goods and cause job losses.
Indo-Asean FTA talks may slip on palm oil
1-Oct-2007 Business Standard
Negotiations on the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and the 10-member Asean are stuck over tariff cuts on palm oil.
Japanese civil groups join push against FTA
1-Oct-2007 Bangkok Post
Japanese civil and consumer rights groups have thrown their support behind the Thai anti-FTA movement by petitioning their own government not to rush into signing the Thai-Japan free trade agreement with the interim Surayud Chulanont administration.
Filipino nursing students want JPEPA junked
1-Oct-2007 Manila Shimbun
Nursing students staged in Manila a rally against the ratification of the proposed Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) for fear that Filipino nurses will only end up as nursing aides or attendants in Japan.
Costa Rica to protest FTA with US
30-Sep-2007 Prensa Latina
Representatives of several Costa Rican sectors will take part in a mass demonstration in this capital on Sunday in rejection to the free trade agreement with the US, which will be put to the vote on October 17.
Hope diminishing for new Caribbean-EU trade agreement
30-Sep-2007 Jamaica Gleaner
As September draws to a close, the likelihood diminishes that an economic partnership agreement (EPA) is achievable this year between the European Union and the Caribbean.
New EU envoy for pushing trade pact with India
30-Sep-2007 Indian Muslims
Ahead of the India-European Union (EU) summit on Nov 30, Daniele Smadja, the new envoy of the European Commission, Friday called for pushing negotiations on a broad-based trade and investment agreement between the two sides.
Ghana: Organised labour worried over EPA
29-Sep-2007 GNA
Mr. Kwasi Adu-Amankwah, Secretary-General of the Trades Union Congress, said the leadership of organised labour had discussed the main issues of the EPA negotiations and concluded that the current efforts to negotiate a free and fair trade agreement between the world’s single most powerful economic bloc and weaker economies was impossible.