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Taiwan signs free trade pact with El Salvador, Honduras
8-May-2007 Monsters and critics
Taiwan has signed a free trade agreement with El Salvador and Honduras to expand trade ties between the three countries, the Bureau of Foreign Trade said on Tuesday.
GCC to seek further talks before EU free-trade deal
8-May-2007 Gulf Times
The wording of the agreement remains undecided along with issues concerning service industries and investment rules.
Ukraine, Singapore begin FTA negotiations
8-May-2007 Channel News Asia
Ukraine and Singapore have begun negotiations for a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
ALBA: A viable key to African diaspora self-determination
8-May-2007
Author and former Jamaican public servant, Lloyd D. McCarthy, makes the case that both Claude McKay and Michael Manley would have supported the political and economic initiative called the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA).
Ecuador not renewing pact with US
8-May-2007 AP
Ecuador’s new leftist president has decided not to renew a bilateral investment treaty with the United States, the country’s foreign minister said Monday, just days before a senior US official is due to visit.
Will the trade-off be worth it?
8-May-2007
On the surface, the European Commission’s argument on how it sees economic partnership agreements with developing countries in the African, Caribbean and Pacific regions playing out, is compelling.
FTA with EU to hurt S Korea’s alcohol, meat, dairy sectors: report
7-May-2007 Yonhap
A free trade pact with the European Union (EU) is expected to hurt South Korea’s alcoholic beverage, meat and dairy sectors, a report by Nonghyup Management Institute, a semi-official research institute. said Monday.
Drug firms against trade changes
7-May-2007 Morning Call
US drugmakers, among the biggest proponents of free-trade agreements, are now lobbying to stop Democrats and the Bush administration from reworking pending trade deals to curb provisions that benefit the industry.
FTA is the path to survival: says a Chilean diplomat
7-May-2007 Donga
“Multilateral trade agreements require much patience and involve complicated processes. If trade determines the survival of your country, you need to be more active in shaping bilateral or multilateral trade frames,” said Chile’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alberto Van Klaveren during a two-day visit to Seoul.
Bush to hold first summit with ASEAN countries
7-May-2007 ABS-CBN
US President George W Bush confirmed Friday that he will attend his first summit with all 10 Southeast Asian leaders, to talk about trade and security, in September. "I suggested to the president that we should consider a suitable new initiative, which perhaps would be able to take our relations another step forward," said Singapore’s PM Lee Hsien Loong.
Economic Partnership Agreement marks new chapter for Brunei, Japan
7-May-2007 Brunei Direct
For the first time, Japan has secured a specific chapter on ’energy’ in a bilateral FTA — with Brunei.
Japan PM’s Middle East tour
7-May-2007 Ohmynews
Abe agreed with leaders of five Middle East nations to strengthen bilateral relations with Japan on a wide range of areas, including politics, culture and environment as well as energy, trade and investment.
US representatives call for Taiwan-US trade agreement
7-May-2007 Taipei Times
Five members of the US House of Representatives have proposed a resolution in support of signing a free trade agreement (FTA) between the US and Taiwan.
Exporting IP
7-May-2007 The New Yorker
Free-trade agreements that export our own restrictive intellectual property laws may make the world safe for Pfizer, Microsoft, and Disney, but they don’t deserve the name free trade.
South Korea, EU launch trade talks
7-May-2007
Bilateral free trade agreements do not contradict efforts to forge a multilateral deal under the World Trade Organization but instead help fill key gaps, the European Union trade chief said Sunday in announcing the start of two-way negotiations with South Korea.
S Korea’s political volatility to affect FTA passage: US report
7-May-2007
Upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections in South Korea cast uncertainties about the ratification of a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States despite encouraging poll results in recent days, a US congressional report said.
Inclusion of political framework to lend ’tremendous’ clout to SAARC: Iftekhar
7-May-2007
Business leaders Sunday expressed their dismay that the SAARC had failed to deliver "much" in the fields of economy and politics in the South Asian region, although it could attract the attention of the international community.
Preferential trade agreement with Mauritius on anvil
7-May-2007
In a bid to further deepen their historic relations, India and Mauritius would soon ink a preferential trading agreement (PTA). This would be the first step towards eventually signing a Comprehensive Economic Co-operation and Partnership Agreement covering goods, services and investment on the lines of India-Singapore pact.
Prices up instead of down
7-May-2007
Prices of articles included in the free trade agreement between the Dominican Republic, Central America and the United States, DR-CAFTA, which is already in effect have not come down. If anything, they have increased. Small businesses are claiming that wholesale prices are more expensive.
FTAs ’will hurt small farmers’
6-May-2007
The Thai government should come up with concrete measures to assist small-scale farmers, who are likely to be adversely affected by bilateral free-trade agreements. Otherwise they will be forced to go out of business. This is the view of a Commerce Ministry official who has been involved in several bilateral trade negotiations.