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3-Mar-2005
Xinhua
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) said it wants changes to the current intellectual property right system to protect the interests of developing countries. It will accordingly conduct an audit and formulate a negotiating position for COMESA member countries in their negotiations with the European Union for the Economic Partnership Agreements due to start in December 2005.
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3-Mar-2005
Gulf Daily news
An agreement on the protection and promotion of investments between Bahrain and Germany is due to be signed "very soon". Germany is also pushing for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the European Union and the GCC.
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3-Mar-2005
Zawya
Egypt and the US held the most high-level bilateral trade meeting since 2002 last week - a sign that the eventual opening of formal negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) could be in the works. However, officials on both sides were vague as to when that might be, saying that there were still important issues to be resolved before proceeding to the next stage of trade negotiations.
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3-Mar-2005
Forbes
Honduras on Thursday became the second Latin American country after El Salvador to ratify a free trade agreement with the United States. Lawmakers immediately fled Congress following their decision, however, to avoid 1,000 government employees who were protesting the measure outside.
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2-Mar-2005
USTR
The Bush Administration today submitted to Congress the 2005 Trade Policy Agenda and the 2004 Annual Report of the President on the Trade Agreements Program.
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2-Mar-2005
IP Watch
Protection of pharmaceutical patents may not be the biggest reason the Bush administration is struggling to line up congressional votes for a free trade agreement with five Central American countries and the Dominican Republic, but it remains critical to its passage.
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2-Mar-2005
Daily Times
Pakistan has refused to accept the inclusion of the Intellectual Property Rights issue in the proposed draft for a bilateral investment treaty (BIT) between the US and Pakistan, a senior government official told Daily Times.
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1-Mar-2005
Regional and bilateral trade agreements have been around since the 1950’s. In the last decade however, there has been an increasing spurt of trade pacts being signed all over the world that pose challenges to the multilateral trading system.
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1-Mar-2005
Although Colombia is the third largest recipient of U.S. financial aid after Iraq and Israel, it still remains a mystery nation to the majority of taxpayers.
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1-Mar-2005
AP
Caricom and Mercosur officials held talks Friday about establishing a free trade agreement by the end of the year.
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1-Mar-2005
UNED
After several years of being blocked, the signing of the EU-GCC FTA seems imminent. At the same time, the US is launching an ambitious proposal for a US-Middle East Free Trade Area in 2013, with Bahrain being the last country to adhere to a list that already includes Morocco and Jordan.
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28-Feb-2005
Washington Times
The Bush administration in its second term is continuing its drive for closer economic ties with the Middle East, restarting trade-related talks with Egypt this week and formally opening free-trade agreement negotiations with Oman and the United Arab Emirates next month.
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28-Feb-2005
Hi Pakistan
Pakistan and China want finalisation of an early harvest programme to finally sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries.
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28-Feb-2005
Daily Times
Japan plans to expand trade in Southeast Asia through a network of bilateral free trade pacts - from Thailand and Malaysia to Indonesia and the Philippines, a senior Japanese trade official said.
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27-Feb-2005
BusinessWorld
The formation of free-trade agreements (FTA) has become a worldwide trend in recent decades. The Philippines, in particular, is showing interest in a slew of trade agreements.
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25-Feb-2005
China Daily
A joint study group, consisting of members from China, Japan and South Korea, issued a report recently on possible trilateral investment arrangements between the three countries, which recommended that a legal framework concerning investment among the three countries should be explored in the near future. Such an investment arrangement, if well operated, would give a fresh boost to the start of FTA negotiations.
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25-Feb-2005
USA is forcing Bangladesh to sign a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), that will bind Bangladesh to work with USA on the successful completion of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) and will provide extra facilities to USA "without prejudice to each party’s rights and obligations" under the WTO.
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25-Feb-2005
US Embassy Italy
Since the Bush Administration first announced its trade initiative, it has made
substantial progress in working with MEFTA entities to develop TIFAs, BITs, and
FTAs.
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24-Feb-2005
ABS-CBN
Australia began talks on a free-trade pact with New Zealand and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Monday, but said it still backed multilateral efforts to cut trade barriers.
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24-Feb-2005
The economic importance of the Bahrain-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and its potential impact on the economy and the private sector was discussed in a meeting yesterday at the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI).
