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There goes the neighborhood?
17-Aug-2005 Egypt Today
As the European Union enters a difficult watershed moment in its internal affairs, Egypt and the partner countries in the EU’s ten-year Euro-Mediterranean Partnership ponder their own new administrative spiderweb. The new European Neighborhood Policy was designed to speed up free trade and strengthen human rights and political reforms - but it could pass us over altogether.
Indonesia, China find love
17-Aug-2005 Asia Times
China’s sustained growth will depend on how well it manages its political and trade relationships. Acquiring concessions and investing directly in natural-resource-based projects in Indonesia makes a great deal of sense for China.
BIMSTEC trade experts to settle FTA issues in July 2006
17-Aug-2005 Mizzima News
Trade experts of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) are working on settling various issues pertaining to trade and investment in a bid to start a journey towards free trade area (FTA) among member countries from July 2006.
India’s new investment norm
17-Aug-2005 Rediff
The tax holiday provided under the India-Singapore agreement, which Indian companies may take advantage of, is part of a trend that will make it increasingly difficult to tax capital in almost any country.
Green light for talks on GCC-India FTA
17-Aug-2005 Bahrain Tribune
India will begin negotiations with the GCC as a single bloc as well as with individual member countries of the GCC for a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement, covering the service sector and investment, along the lines of the pact signed between India and Singapore recently.
Biodiversity and intellectual property rules in the Andean Free Trade Agreement
16-Aug-2005 CIEL
Letter from five US NGOs to the USTR advocating that patents on plants and animals be dropped from the FTA negotiations with Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, in favour of the current WTO TRIPS Agreement.
Can CAFTA save textile and apparel producers?
16-Aug-2005 EPI
The notion that 283,000 textile and apparel jobs will be created in Central America as a result of CAFTA is a pipedream.
The FTAA: A recipe for economic disaster?
16-Aug-2005 Political Affairs Magazine
As indicated by CAFTA’s ratification, instead of pushing for the enactment of the FTAA, the Bush administration has re-evaluated its strategy, now attempting to build up momentum by establishing separate free trade agreements with the different regions in the hemisphere through a "divide-and-conquer" strategy.
Free trade deal with Chile in the pipeline
16-Aug-2005 China Daily
China is expected to ink its first free trade agreement (FTA) with a single country this year: Chile.
Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (2005)
16-Aug-2005
Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement. Brunei Darussalam, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore (P4)
Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (2003)
16-Aug-2005 Trade & Industry Department, Government of Hong Kong SAR
CEPA Legal Text
Downer’s Asia trade vision
16-Aug-2005 Herald Sun
The Federal Government wants to establish a powerful free trade bloc with Asia, giving Australia unprecedented economic access to almost half the world’s population.
Mauritius in talks for economic pact
16-Aug-2005 Times of India
With the recent signing of the India-Singapore comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CECA) which threatens to reduce the importance of Mauritius as the investment gateway to India, Port Louis has began talks with New Delhi on a similar deal.
WB study on FTA with India
16-Aug-2005 Financial Express
India is keen on signing an FTA with Bangladesh as early as possible but Bangladesh has been rather sceptical about the outcome of such a deal because of the former’s alleged protectionist attitude. The findings of a World Bank (WB) study that were made available a couple of days back in Dhaka have, actually, confirmed Bangladesh’s worries.
Saudi, Kuwait want India to give ’S’pore treatment’
16-Aug-2005 Economic Times
India’s decision to grant tax sops to Singapore-based FIIs under the comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CECA) has prompted oil-rich Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to pitch for similar concessions in the double taxation avoidance treaties that are being negotiated with Indian tax authorities.
East Asian Free Trade Agreement (EAFTA): The road to better quality life?
15-Aug-2005 AIM
Countries in East Asia that are parties to, or in the process of negotiating, one or more free trade arrangements not only with countries within the region but outside the region as well, are looming to take the “hub and spoke” characteristic — for example, ASEAN-China (2010), ASEAN-Japan (2012), and ASEAN-Korea, and Japan-Singapore (2002) and Japan-Philippines. Whether ASEAN would be the hub or spoke remains to be seen.
China-ASEAN FTA: trade in goods (2004)
15-Aug-2005 ASEAN Secretariat
China-ASEAN FTA: framework agreement (2002)
15-Aug-2005 ASEAN Secretariat
One for Indo-Pak peace road: Free trade zone
15-Aug-2005 Indian Express
In a comprehensive approach to Indo-Pak engagement in Jammu and Kashmir, Former Pak Finance Minister Burki is calling for a sub-regional trade arrangement under the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA).
Ford warns gov’t on JPEPA signing
14-Aug-2005 Manila Bulletin
Ford Motor Group in the Philippines has put up a strong pressure on the government against signing a free trade pact with Japan that will put its assembly and exports program in the country at a disadvantage over Japanese assemblers.