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US Senate approves Central America trade deal
1-Jul-2005 Seattle Post Intelligencer
The US Senate on Thursday endorsed a free trade agreement with six Latin American nations, handing a major win to President Bush.
Labor issues to delay Japan-Philippines FTA
1-Jul-2005 Asia Times
The signing of an economic partnership agreement between Japan and the Philippines is likely to be pushed back to at least the end of the year due to disagreements over investment protections and quotas for care providers.
CAFTA and Korea: Swift countermeasures needed to cushion impacts
30-Jun-2005 Korea Times
The free trade agreement between China and 10 Southeast Asian Nations taking effect this month poses considerable challenges to Korea. The China-ASEAN FTA, or CAFTA, will form the world’s third-largest trading bloc, following NAFTA and the EU.
Demonstration against Central American summit held in Honduras
30-Jun-2005 People’s Daily
Students, teachers and indigenous residents demonstrated Wednesday in Tegucigalpa, capital of Honduras, against the free trade agreement (FTA) between Central America and the United States.
India-Singapore CECA (2005)
30-Jun-2005 Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry
11th hour deal paves way for trade pact passage
30-Jun-2005 Oxford Press
The Bush administration and key lawmakers struck an 11th hour deal with US sugar producers to shore up congressional support for a controversial trade agreement, senators said Wednesday. A full Senate vote could come as early as Thursday on the US-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).
Korean exporters brace for ASEAN-China FTA
30-Jun-2005 Chosun Ilbo
A gradual reduction in tariffs on manufactured goods between China and ASEAN as their free trade pact goes into effect on July 1 spells trouble for Korean exports.
Thailand-US: AIDS drugs take centre-stage at trade talks
30-Jun-2005 IPS
After tiptoeing around the issue for months, Thailand’s trade negotiators will have to finally reveal where they stand on the life-or-death question of producing cheap, generic anti-AIDS drugs.
Patenting rice: A matter of serious royal concern
30-Jun-2005 Bangkok Post
The prospect of including in many FTAs, especially the Thai-US one, issues like intellectual property and agriculture, could have implications on the survival or disappearance of the Thai rice culture
TRIPS, bilateralism, multilateralism & implications for developing countries: Jordan’s drug sector
30-Jun-2005
Looking at the experience of Jordan’s pharmaceutical sector, this paper shows that the expected benefits from bilateral agreements between developed and developing countries have been largely overestimated while the costs underestimated.
Trade pacts to the south losing appeal
30-Jun-2005 New York Times
An ambitious American plan for a hemispherewide trade pact, which President Bush described as a "vital link for prosperity," is mired in disputes that have led to widespread skepticism about its chances of ever materializing.
AU’s Ministerial Declaration on EPA negotiations
30-Jun-2005 AU
EPAs should serve as instruments for development and poverty reduction. They must also support the deepening of intra-African trade.
Govt under fire over China FTA
29-Jun-2005
Workers’ rights and the environment are being sacrificed in the rush to sign a free trade agreement (FTA) with China, a public interest group says.
Bilateral Treaties to Promote and Protect Foreign Investment within the Americas: an alternative to the FTAA
29-Jun-2005 Argenpress
Sovereign states are the original right bearers. They have to denounce bilateral investment treaties or their most arbitrary clauses following the procedures provided, in accordance with the legal principles of democratic constitutions; to recover their legislative and jurisdictional powers, by retrieving their inherent jurisdiction which had been delegated to international foreign tribunals, allowing them to rule on the general regulatory or contractual policies of independent nations.
Senate panel considers Cafta trade pact: Vote won’t occur until Wednesday at earliest
29-Jun-2005 Market Watch
The US Senate Finance Committee won’t hold an important vote on the controversial Central America Free Trade Agreement before Wednesday, delaying action on the pact by at least a day.
CAFTA on the ropes: Agreement must protect people and the environment
29-Jun-2005 Voice of San Diego
The lack of worker and environmental protections leads the list of concerns as CAFTA is modeled after the failed 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA. At its 10-year anniversary, the verdict on NAFTA is in: It is an economic, social and environmental failure.
India, Singapore sign CECA to boost investments
29-Jun-2005 India Daily
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visiting Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, on Wednesday, signed the much awaited Comprehensive Economic Co-operation Agreement (CECA).
S Korea blames Japan for trade impasse
28-Jun-2005 Financial Times
Eighteen months of talks over a proposed bilateral trade agreement between Japan and South Korea are on the verge of collapse because Japan’s Agriculture Ministry has blocked meaningful dialogue on trade in farm and marine products, a South Korean diplomat said yesterday.
Interview: Thailand aims to further enhance Thailand-China strategic partnership
28-Jun-2005 People’s Daily
The Thailand-China relations have been developed in a positive and constructive way since the diplomatic ties between the two countries were established 30 years ago, and now it is time to push it to a higher plane, said Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra before his departure to China on the occasion of 30th anniversary of bilateral relations.
Thai AIDS activists fear losing cheap drugs in free trade talks with Japan, US
28-Jun-2005 AFP
As Thailand prepares for new rounds of free trade talks with Japan and the United States, AIDS activists are voicing increasing concern that patients here could lose access to cheap, life-prolonging drugs.