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Australia, Japan hope to start FTA talks
2-Aug-2006
Visiting Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer expressed hope that Canberra could enter into official negotiations on a free trade agreement with Japan next year by concluding the ongoing feasibility study at an early date, Japanese officials said.
Business Lobby Group Urges FTA with EU
2-Aug-2006
Korea’s big-business lobby is urging a free-trade agreement with the European Union. The Federation of Korean Industries reports the Korean and the European economies are complementary, hence there will be few hurdles to sealing a pact.
Costa Rican Greens slam US-FTA
2-Aug-2006 Prensa Latina
Some 60 Costa Rican ecologist organizations protested Monday against the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Central America and the United States, due to its risk for the environment.
Implications of Colombia’s integration into Plan Puebla Panama
2-Aug-2006 Scoop
From July onwards, Colombia will form part of the one-sided geopolitical mega-project that seeks to consolidate the neoliberal model in the western Latin America with the aim of privatizing highway infrastructure, public services and natural resources.
Half of Koreans oppose US FTA
2-Aug-2006 Korea Times
Half of South Koreans said in a recent poll that they oppose a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States.
Japan trade deal ’bigger than China’
2-Aug-2006
A free trade deal between Australia and Japan could be a multi-billion dollar bonanza for both countries, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has suggested.
Japan to propose 16-nation Asian FTA, including India
2-Aug-2006 Economic Times
Japan’s trade minister will propose forming a 16-nation East Asian free trade zone, including India, that covers half the world’s population and a quarter of its gross domestic product at an upcoming regional forum, an official said.
Anti-FTA bodies join forces against US deals
1-Aug-2006 Bangkok Post
Thailand’s anti-FTA movements have formed an alliance with counterparts in other countries including South Korea, Costa Rica and Colombia against US efforts to strike bilateral trade agreements across the globe.
WTO is dead, long live free trade: globalisation and its new avatars
1-Aug-2006
Bilateral and unilateral, initiatives are the new avatars of globalisation and free trade. And it is these avatars we must challenge to stop corporate rule, while WTO hangs between intensive care and the crematorium.
Japan: Free trade deal with Manila stumbles over labour
1-Aug-2006 IPS
While 23 July marked the 50th anniversary of bilateral friendship between Japan and the Philippines, Tokyo has decided not to use the occasion to conclude a long-awaited free trade agreement (FTA) with a fellow Asian country.
Malaysia and Australia set to enter new era with FTA
31-Jul-2006
Economic relations between Malaysia and Australia are set to enter a new era when the two countries conclude a free trade agreement (FTA).
India to raise SAFTA issues in Dhaka
31-Jul-2006
India, which has called for an emergency meeting of the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) Ministerial Council, is expected to raise the issue of Pakistan backing away from its commitment under the multilateral agreement.
Academics branded ’anti-US over FTA research’
31-Jul-2006
The head of the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra says there has been an attempt to silence academics who are making critical comments about issues of public importance.
An FTA story for children
31-Jul-2006
Hello, my young friends! I want to share with you a strange math equation that I found. It attempts to tell you what the sum is after such and such numbers are added up. Or, it tries to tell you the average of all these numbers combined. For example, it tells what GDP is, what the whole trade volume is, what per capita income is. Confusing? Well, I am not so good at numbers, so I also didn’t let the equation bother me very much, either. It was perhaps because I wasn’t that much interested in economics, after all.
A Korea-U.S. trade agreement: what is at stake?
31-Jul-2006 The Hankyoreh
This examines macro-economic issues, intellectual property and patent protections, the potential impact on pharmaceuticals, and other issues at stake in the U.S.-Korea FTA.
Has Mercosur gone bananas?
31-Jul-2006
While the world was focused on the tragic events taking place in Lebanon and northern Israel, something very disturbing happened in South America last week. The trading bloc known as Mercosur (the South American common market), at its summit meeting in the Argentine city of Cordoba, formally supported Venezuela’s bid for one of the two Latin American seats on the United Nations Security Council.
Canada: The Occidental Tourist - Expropriation Claim Tests BIT Efficacy
31-Jul-2006
The outcome of Occidental Petroleum’s latest dispute with Ecuador will be an important test of the effectiveness of BITs in protecting overseas investor rights in volatile political climates.
HM issues orders to begin implementation of FTA
31-Jul-2006
HM King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, on Friday, gave his royal orders to begin implementing the Bahrain US FTA as from August 1, 2006.
Expert: Keep Delaying CAFTA for DR
31-Jul-2006
Fernando Alvarez Bogaert, former Finances minister, said Friday that the validity of the Central American-Dominican Republic-US Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), put off for this month, could wreck national production if enacted.
WTO collapse set to fuel Asia’s "noodle bowl" effect
31-Jul-2006
The breakdown of the WTO talks has dealt a blow to the trade prospects of Asia’s open economies and is likely to encourage a growing "noodle bowl" of bilateral pacts, analysts said.