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S Korea, EU to wrap up first week of free trade talks
11-May-2007 Yonhap
South Korea and the European Union were to wrap up their first round of free trade talks Friday with Seoul’s negotiators expressing satisfaction over the week-long negotiations, but conceding sensitive issues were barely touched.
Quebec seeks free-trade deals with Ontario, EU
11-May-2007 Globe and Mail
Quebec’s minority government will seek a free-trade agreement with Ontario as part of Premier Jean Charest’s attempt to revive the province’s economy and regain popular support. Mr. Charest also reiterated his proposal to seek a free-trade deal with the European Union.
Japan to draw up farmland reforms to keep up with global FTA trend
11-May-2007 Kyodo
Japan will draw up a package of farmland reform measures by this fall in a bid to enhance the competitiveness of its ailing agricultural sector and keep up with the global trend of sealing free trade agreements, a key government economic panel said Wednesday.
Talks on Pak-Czech investment treaty under way
11-May-2007 The News International
Prime Minister of Czech Republic Mirek Topolanek has assured Pakistan that being the European Union member, Prague would play its role in strengthening Islamabad’s relations and striking a Free Trade Agreement with the bloc.
Sides get closer to a deal on trade
11-May-2007 Washington Post
The Bush administration and Democratic leaders have struck a compromise that would insert stricter labor rules into future trade treaties, potentially lending fresh momentum to the global effort to promote free trade, sources briefed on the talks said yesterday.
Japan should consider free trade agreement with US
11-May-2007 Bloomberg
Japan needs to consider the possibility of signing a free trade agreement with the U.S., the country’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said today.
Goff presses for free trade agreement with US
11-May-2007 stuff
Trade Minister Phil Goff says New Zealand has to "hang in there" in its desire to forge a free trade agreement with the United States.
AIA calls US-Korea free trade agreement strongest in decades
10-May-2007
The American Insurance Association recently strongly praised the work of US trade negotiators who successfully concluded their talks on a Free Trade Agreement with Korea that will provide significant commercial gains for both countries.
Rice says failure to approve Korea FTA will send ’disastrous signal’ to region
10-May-2007
The top U.S. diplomat urged Congress to approve the free trade agreement (FTA) with South Korea, saying failure to do so would send "a disastrous signal" to a region where the U.S. has to anchor peace and prosperity.
Trade policy in Asia: where next with a crippled WTO and weak FTAs?
10-May-2007 ECIPE
Trade policy in Asia is dangerously unbalanced. It rests on a shaky leg of discriminatory bilateral and regional FTAs. Its other WTO leg has gone to sleep: most Asian countries have neglected the WTO in favour of FTAs. Its regional-cooperation arm is limp: grand visions for regional economic integration are mostly empty conference chatter.
Indonesia to seek Japan’s confirmation on EPA settlement
10-May-2007 ANTARA
Indonesia will seek Japan’s confirmation regarding the settlement of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with that country, trade minister Mari Elka Pangestu said on Wednesday.
Efta continues to extend its influence
10-May-2007 swissinfo
While world trade talks remain deadlocked, the European Free Trade Association (Efta), of which Switzerland is a member, continues to extend its network of free trade accords.
Officials urged to be critical over FTA
9-May-2007 Jakarta Post
Fearing that the gains promised by an ASEAN-EU free trade agreement (FTA) will turn out to be little more than illusions, a discussion has urged the members of ASEAN to stick together and remain "critical" during the upcoming negotiations.
Bolivia notifies World Bank of withdrawal from ICSID, pursues BIT revisions
9-May-2007 ITN
Investment Treaty News has learned that Bolivia has sent a formal notice to the World Bank’s International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) declaring its withdrawal from the ICSID convention.
Treaty with Japan may legalize dumping toxic waste in India
8-May-2007 RxPG
If the agreements negotiated by Japan with the Philippines and Thailand are anything to go by, the India-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement that is being worked on by the two governments will open the floodgates to Japan’s municipal, medical and hazardous wastes.
EU promises seeks to design bilateral trade deals that support future WTO-type pact
8-May-2007 IHT
The European Union will aim to design bilateral trade deals with other regions and countries that can be applied to a future world trade agreement even if last-ditch efforts to forge a global pact fail later this year, an EU trade official said Tuesday.
Japan should aim for free trade agreement with US, panel says
8-May-2007 Bloomberg
Japan should push for a trade agreement with the US to reduce duties and investment barriers, members of the government’s key economic panel said.
Brunei, US officials study ways to expand bilateral trade
8-May-2007
The United States trade representatives and Brunei government officials yesterday discussed how trade relations can be further expanded as well as what the US can do to support the sultanate’s efforts to diversify its economy.
US and China tug at ASEAN unity
8-May-2007 Asia Times
ASEAN is being fragmented by intensifying US-China competition for regional influence, which is putting a premium on bilateralism with the big powers at the expense of ASEAN’s ambition toward more regional multilateralism.
Delhi’s duty-free offer
8-May-2007
Bangladesh’s business leaders are rather dismayed at India’s recent duty-free market access offer, as they have expressed the view that mere duty-free access could not ensure free flow of goods into Indian market unless non-tariff and para-tariff barriers are removed.