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25-Aug-2008
AFP
ASEAN is set this week to finalise a free trade agreement with India and hold talks with Australia and New Zealand, signalling the importance of regional pacts amid fading hopes for a global trading regime.
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25-Aug-2008
Bangkok Post
The European Union is considering ’’deeper’’ free trade area (FTA) discussions with Asean members that would cover political issues sensitive for some Asean governments: labour rights, environment legislation, competition policy, transparency in government procurement, and liberalisation in services.
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25-Aug-2008
Jamaica Observer
A day after Caricom chairman Baldwin Spencer proposed September 8 for the signing of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU) the Observer has learnt that the pact is now unlikely to be signed before either September 12 or September 19.
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25-Aug-2008
GLW
On November 22 this year, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ meeting will convene in Lima, Peru. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and a suit team will be there, pushing for greater trade “liberalisation” on behalf of Australian industrial guilds like the Minerals Council of Australia.
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24-Aug-2008
The Dominion
On August 22nd, the Peruvian Congress repealed two legislative decrees at the root of the indigenous demonstrations that paralyzed various roads and energy installations from August 9th through 20th. The indigenous movement of the Amazon, home to 65 different indigenous nations, declared victory.
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23-Aug-2008
The government of Nicaragua is working on a proposal on the role of the company "Gran Nacional ALBA Alimentos." Organization of the venture was agreed some days ago in Cuba by member countries of Petrocaribe, a Caribbean alliance with Venezuela to buy oil under special payment terms and conditions, DPA reported.
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23-Aug-2008
Nigeria and Ghana are to hold a business summit in October to facilitate bilateral trade relations between them.
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23-Aug-2008
Uruguay’s Economy minister Danilo Astori criticized export taxes and complained the fact Mercosur has allowed Argentina to apply them when “we all know this is a simple manipulation of the economy” which also has political effects.
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23-Aug-2008
The Third World Network (TWN) has said that it will continue to mount pressure on the government and policy makers for them to withdraw from signing a non-preferential economic partnership with the European Union (EU).
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23-Aug-2008
The government needs to address existing legal issues that impede international trade agreements, says Narongchai Akrasanee, a member of the cabinet’s economic advisory team.
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22-Aug-2008
Indonesia and Pakistan are actively engaged in negotiations to sign Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which would help in raising the volume of bilateral trade up to one billion dollars mark.
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22-Aug-2008
Norman Girvan
This paper critically assesses the compatibility of the CARIFORUM-EC EPA with the
proposed CARICOM Single Market and Economy—CSME. The main conclusion is that the CSME, a project for the creation/strengthening of the regional economy for engagement with globalisation,
will be superseded by the EPA, which involves a high degree of bilateral integration of
individual Cariforum countries with Europe in trade, investment and regulatory
policies.
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22-Aug-2008
WW4 Report
Indigenous groups in Peru ended more than a week of militant protests Aug. 20 at key energy sites after lawmakers agreed to overturn a new land law issued by President Alan García, which sought to ease corporate access to communal territories. García had issued the law by decree earlier under special powers Congress granted him to bring Peruvian law into compliance with a new free-trade deal with the US. A congressional commission voted to revoke the law Aug. 19, and floor vote is expected later this week.
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22-Aug-2008
Xinhua
Top negotiators of South Korea and the European Union (EU) will meet in Seoul next week to seek progress in their free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations by tackling sensitive issues, the Korea herald reported Thursday.
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22-Aug-2008
The Nation
Barbados Prime Minister David Thompson has called for an urgent meeting of the CARICOM heads of government ahead of the scheduled September 2 signing of the Economic Partnership Agreement.
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21-Aug-2008
GRAIN
The EU is currently negotiating FTAs with Central America, the Andean Community of Nations and Mercosur. Its objective is to use these agreements to complete the privatisation process, to remove restrictions on European property and activity in the region, to acquire full access to natural resources and to obtain guarantees that European companies will be able to operate with clear advantages over national companies. Moreover, all these concessions granted to European companies are to be protected from any political changes that the peoples of the region might want to undertake in the future.
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21-Aug-2008
Manila Standard
Philippine senators have suspended debates on the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement pending a clarification by the Foreign Affairs and Trade departments as well as the Japanese government on the status of a side agreement that will address constitutional issues raised by lawmakers.
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21-Aug-2008
Canberra Times
One juicy Australian-grown aid patty, some aromatic seasonal labour sauce all held together within the iron clad guarantee of two trade liberalising pieces of white bread and a smattering of forest carbon partnership-flavoured fries. What financially famished island state could resist?
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21-Aug-2008
Zawya
Gulf oil producers have criticised the European Union (EU) for delaying the signing of a landmark free trade agreement (FTA) that could support their long-standing bid to diversify their oil-reliant economies.
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20-Aug-2008
IHT
The German government on Wednesday approved a law that would allow it to block moves by foreign investors to take large stakes in German companies, if it concludes that they endanger the country’s interests.
