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US wants more concessions on beef imports: Official
9-Feb-2006 Chosunilbo
The US will push Korea for further negotiations on resuming imports of US beef with parts attached to the bone included, an official with the US Embassy in Korea said Wednesday. This January, the Korean government partly lifted the ban to ease the way for free-trade talks.
Ecuador students join anti-FTA protests
9-Feb-2006 Prensa Latina
University students are taking to the streets Wednesday to demand expiration of the contract with Oxy US oil company and spurn the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Washington.
FTA vital for East Asia says ADB
9-Feb-2006 Gulf Daily News
East Asia should set up a unified region-wide free trade pact to help boost trade and investment and further promote regional economic integration, the president of the Asian Development Bank said yesterday.
Israel, Hungary sign economic cooperation agreement
9-Feb-2006 Globes
Israel and Hungary have signed an economic cooperation agreement and a statement of intent on cooperation in R&D.
India, Serbia-Montenegro signs economic cooperation pact
9-Feb-2006 PTI News
India and Serbia & Montenegro today signed a ’Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement’, which includes grant of ’Most Favoured Nation’ treatment in trade of goods and services and setting up of a Joint Economic Committee to explore new areas for bilateral trade.
Kuwaiti delegation kicks off expert-level trade talks with US counterpart
9-Feb-2006 MENAFN
The Kuwaiti Ambassador praised the level of trade relations between Kuwait and the United States, which is considered Kuwait’s largest trade partner, and expressed Kuwait’s hope that the ongoing trade negotiations would lead to a Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
‘Secret’ FTA details on the Net
8-Feb-2006
Details of US proposals in free-trade talks with Thailand - perceived by many Thais as “forbidden information” the government has tried to cover up - were recently posted for all to see in cyberspace. Witoon Leanchamroon, director of BioThai, a non-government organisation working for bio-diversity and community rights, said at a press conference yesterday he had been told a group of Americans involved in public health issues had posted a full text of the patent chapter from the Thai-US free trade talks at www.bilaterals.org.
Canada’s hidden free-trade deal
8-Feb-2006
In Central America, the CAFTA debate led to massive protests. Meanwhile, here in Canada, our government is quietly negotiating much the same sort of agreement which calls for the free flow of investment and presumably the removal of tariffs and agricultural safeguards.
EU-SA free trade agreement stalls
8-Feb-2006 Business Report
The free trade agreement reached between South Africa and the EU on automotive products in November last year has run into trouble and has not been implemented.
Bimstec free trade pact set to come into force in July
8-Feb-2006 Asia Pulse
The BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) free trade agreement is expected to come into force from July 1 this year, the Bangladesh Parliament was told Sunday.
Costa Rica election another blow to US trade pact
8-Feb-2006 Reuters
A US free trade pact with Central America, already delayed by a legal wrangle, has run into further trouble at presidential elections in Costa Rica where voters punished the main pro-trade candidate.
Philippines: Exporters press free trade pacts
8-Feb-2006 Malaya
Exporters are pressing the government to pursue bilateral free trade arrangements to enable them to benefit from liberalization instead of waiting until 2013 for developed countries to lift their subsidies on agricultural exports.
S. Korea, India aim to sign free trade deal by end of 2007
8-Feb-2006 Yonhap
South Korea and India announced Tuesday the start of negotiations aimed at signing a free trade deal by the end of next year, officials said.
EDITORIAL: Health at stake in free-trade talks
8-Feb-2006 The Nation
For the United States, intellectual property rights represent the single most valuable asset in light of the new reality of information-based economies and where they derive their national wealth. The supremacy of the US as a global power depends on how effective it is in acquiring and maintaining its ownership of knowledge assets.
Draft amendment to patent law a ’sell-out’
8-Feb-2006 Bangkok Post
Opponents of a free trade area (FTA) agreement with the US have lashed out at the government’s proposed amendment of Thai patent law to facilitate the United States’ patenting of drugs and living organisms in Thailand. They fear it would lead to greater control of the country’s resources by American firms.
Sudan: Uganda losing out to FTA countries
7-Feb-2006
Uganda is losing business in the Sudanese market because of its failure to ratify the Free Trade Area of the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (Comesa).
Japan wants to seal FTAs with GCC — report
7-Feb-2006
Japan wants to open free trade agreement (FTA) talks with the Gulf Cooperation Council, China, India, Australia and South Africa, a top-selling business daily here reported Sunday.
Free trade agreements and Labour: Much more than a Labour Clause
7-Feb-2006 RECALCA
The FTA signed between Peru and the US has 24 chapters. One of these is a labor chapter that is identical to that found in the US-Colombia FTA and the US-Ecuador. On the subject of including this chapter, it is necessary to analyze the impact of signing this Treaty on labor and employment conditions for Colombians.
Stars Fight Losing Battle Against Screen Quota Cut
7-Feb-2006
One of Asia’s best known movie stars stood in front of the National Assembly in Yoido, Seoul, holding a picket which read: ``Be a friend of the screen quota system and we will flap Taegukgi in the world.’’
Work for a win-win agreement
7-Feb-2006
The competition over "mating" between countries and regions through free trade agreements is unusual. One hundred and twenty free trade agreements have been entered to date - 95 of them in the past five years. Fifteen agreements were reached last year and 37 are currently underway. Immediately after he came into office in 2001, US President George W. Bush pushed to enter free trade agreements, saying the United States was behind the European Union in making such pacts.