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11-Mar-2006
US Ambassador to Malaysia Christopher J. LaFleur said it was not expected that the National Automobile Policy would become an obstacle for both countries in convening discussions on Free Trade Agreements (FTA).
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11-Mar-2006
Manila Times
The conclusion of a Philippines-US free trade agreement (FTA) will drastically impact on the country’s agriculture because it is labor intensive and employs large number of people, according to a recent paper published by De La Salle University experts.
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11-Mar-2006
Kyodo
Chilean President-elect Michelle Bachelet and Hidenao Nakagawa, policy chief of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, agreed Friday that the two countries should accelerate efforts toward signing a bilateral free trade agreement.
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11-Mar-2006
The Hindu
India announced that it is evolving an agreement in maritime shipping within IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa) and working out modalities to implement the framework agreement in civil aviation in the region. It cautioned, however, that since Brazil and South Africa were members of MERCOSUR and SACU, there were constraints in working out a trilateral FTA within the IBSA framework.
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11-Mar-2006
FT
When US President George W. Bush announced in 2002 that he wanted a new Central American Free Trade Agreement (Cafta) with the five nations of Central America, the Dominican Republic scented a threat.
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11-Mar-2006
Al-Ahram Weekly
"The time is not right." US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez’s terse statement summed up his answers to repeated questions as to why negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) between Egypt and the US appear to have been abandoned.
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11-Mar-2006
Prensa Latina
More than 30 agricultural organizations in Peru announced a national strike against possible signing of a free trade agreement with the United States, which they believe would severely affect them.
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11-Mar-2006
Reuters
The United States and United Arab Emirates postponed their next round of free-trade talks, the two countries said on Friday, a day after a Dubai state-owned company said it would sell US port management operations to calm a political furor.
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11-Mar-2006
Jakarta Post
The Indonesian government will open up the domestic labor market in certain sectors to Japanese workers as part of the liberalization of the service sector envisaged under a planned bilateral economic partnership agreement (EPA)
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10-Mar-2006
President Bush says he is concerned about international reaction to congressional opposition to a Dubai-owned company managing operations at some US ports. Opposition led the firm to announce it would transfer port operations to a US entity.
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10-Mar-2006
The Malaysia-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks got off to a rousing start with 18 Senators and members of the House of Representatives, both Democrat and Republican, turning up to show support.
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10-Mar-2006
Malaysia and Australia on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at building a new cooperation on agricultural, food processing, livestock and fisheries trade.
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10-Mar-2006
Just one year into the free trade agreement (FTA) with the US, Trade Minister Mark Vaile - who signed the FTA - may agree to dump the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) single desk system. The system was set up in 1939 when growers pooled their wheat to protect their incomes.
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10-Mar-2006
South Korea should call on the United States to remove protection for its shipping industry and lower tariffs on textile and clothing imports in order to counter Washington’s demands at the upcoming free trade talks, a state-run think tank said Thursday.
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10-Mar-2006
South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) failed to agree on some details in the 10th round of their free trade agreement (FTA) talks this week, the country’s Agriculture Ministry said Friday.
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10-Mar-2006
The Age
Australia and Malaysia have signed a memorandum of understanding that aims to foster trade in agriculture, food processing, livestock and fisheries. The MoU is separate from the proposed free trade agreement between the two countries, and comes as the United States announced it would begin formal negotiations for a free trade accord with Malaysia.
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9-Mar-2006
Trade Minister Mark Vaile has briefed senior Bush Administration officials on the Cole inquiry, will today brief members of Congress, and is defending Australia’s monopoly wheat sales system from the attacks of US lobby groups.
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9-Mar-2006
Coming into force of the Colombian-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA) has encountered opposing positions in Venezuelan sectors. Three visions prevail -firstly, it is feared that the impact on Colombian-Venezuelan trade will be negative; secondly, there could be a negative impact in the medium term, but a positive one in the short term; last but not least, good prospects are anticipated.
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9-Mar-2006
This week US Trade Representative Rob Portman announced that the Bush administration will pursue free-trade talks with Malaysia. Last month talks on a free-trade agreement (FTA) were inaugurated with South Korea. In a global economy awash in trade deals designed to open markets and build alliances, FTAs with these countries are particularly desirable.
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9-Mar-2006
CHINA is now in the World Trade Organisation and is negotiating free trade agreements. It wants to be a player in the game of world trade. Yet it does not understand the rules of that game. How else to explain Beijing’s decision this week to control the price of exports of iron ore from Australia and Brazil? This is not permitted in the WTO world of multilateral trade.
