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24-Jan-2006
People’s Daily
The third round of free trade area negotiation between China and GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) was concluded recently in Beijing.
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23-Jan-2006
Heritage Foundation
A memo from the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation.
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23-Jan-2006
Yonhap
US Trade Representative Rob Portman said South Korean farmers’ protests are not expected to affect efforts to start negotiating a free trade agreement (FTA).
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23-Jan-2006
The Nation
Thailand’s National Human Rights Commission yesterday asked the government to suspend talks on a free-trade agreement with the United States and to disclose what is being negotiated.
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23-Jan-2006
Daily News
By having preferential access to the two major markets in South Asia - India and Pakistan - Sri Lanka can now position itself as the conduit for Indo-Pakistan trade that has diminished due to political problems centred around the Most Favoured Nation treatment.
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23-Jan-2006
Sify
Switzerland would explore the prospects of a Free Trade Agreement with India. Identifying India as an important market, the Swiss Minister of Economic Affairs, Joseph Deiss, said he would be discussing the issue with his counterparts in Delhi in the next two days.
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23-Jan-2006
Xinhua
Chile and Thailand held their first round of pre-free trade talks in Santiago in January 2005, and are set to hold the next round Monday through Friday next week in Bangkok.
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23-Jan-2006
Money Sense
Bolivian President Evo Morales used his inaugural address Sunday to renew his pledge to nationalize the country’s vast natural gas reserves, but said he’s open to the idea of a large US-sponsored trade zone he harshly criticized last year during his campaign.
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22-Jan-2006
The new Australian Ambassador’s third posting in Korea might be the charm that helps bring Australia-Korea trade relations to its zenith.
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22-Jan-2006
Work on talks for a free trade pact between Korea and the United States has been accelerating since President Roh Moo-hyun’s New Year’s address. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade recently announced it would hold a public hearing early next month to gather opinions on such a pact. Accordingly, the government is likely to soon declare the start of negotiations with Washington.
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22-Jan-2006
MALAYSIA and Chile are moving towards an eventual Free Trade Agreement (FTA), with both sides to undertake scoping studies. A Joint Study Group has been formed to complete the task and submit recommendations to both governments by the end of the year.
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22-Jan-2006
The Nation
When Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra went to Washington DC last September to meet President George W Bush, they agreed that the Thai-US free-trade agreement (FTA) would be completed by this June. At a subsequent meeting with Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, he also asked for US assistance in southern Thailand. Obviously there was a clear link between the trade and defence policies of the two countries.
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22-Jan-2006
The government is hurrying to conclude a free trade agreement with the United States before June 2007 at the latest. It appears natural for Korea to facilitate the FTA process with America, the world’s largest economy and Seoul’s greatest ally. The biggest stumbling block is the screen quota, a protective device for the domestic film industry, or so says Washington.
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22-Jan-2006
Prensa Latina
Panamanian unions and civilian groups Friday warned they would continue pressuring the government in order to hamper signing of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the US and support a similar pact with Chile.
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21-Jan-2006
Dawn
Pakistan and United States on Friday concluded the fourth round of talks on the proposed Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT), which remained inconclusive due to differences on some clauses of the agreement.
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21-Jan-2006
IPS
The Bush administration is pushing a spate of free trade agreements with its allies in the Middle East that mostly lack input from marginalised local communities or civil society groups.
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21-Jan-2006
donga.com
Trade Minister Kim Hyun-jong said in a news conference Friday, “It remains to be seen whether the upcoming international economic ministers’ meeting scheduled for February 2 will decide to begin Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations.” Current Korean FTA regulations stipulate that an international economic ministers’ meeting shall make decisions on whether to start FTA negotiations after taking public opinion into consideration at a public hearing.
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21-Jan-2006
Miami Herald
President Alejandro Toledo endorsed Miami as the headquarters for a proposed free trade secretariat as Florida Gov. Jeb Bush completed a two-day trade visit to Ecuador and Peru.
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21-Jan-2006
AP
Backing away from his tough campaign talk against US-sponsored trade initiatives, Bolivian President-elect Evo Morales said Friday he no longer rules out a free-trade deal with the United States and three other Andean nations. But he did not say he supported such a deal, either.
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21-Jan-2006
BBC
Students and police have clashed again in Ecuador, as protests against a possible rise in bus fares entered a second week. The students also want the government to cancel its contract with the Occidental Petroleum Corporation and for it to refuse to join the proposed Free Trade Agreement of the Americas.
