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’India receives positive indications from EU on FTA’
13-Jan-2013
The long pending negotiations for the India-European Union free trade agreement may finally move ahead with the EU’s chief negotiator scheduled to visit New Delhi this week, amid positive signals emanating from the 27-nation bloc.
Let’s prove ‘detractors’ wrong
11-Jan-2013
News that German ambassador Hans Gnodtke has warned his country might pull out of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation General Assembly due to be held in Victoria Falls later this year if government does not guarantee protection of its nationals must be a worrying development for Zimbabwean Tourism minister Walter Mzembi who has worked hard to make the event a success.
Govt to sign more bilateral agreements
11-Jan-2013
Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Desire Sibanda on Thursday said following the success of investment road shows carried out last year, government was optimistic of concluding more BIPPAs with several investor countries.
Industrial cooperation offers way to expand trade with ASEAN
11-Jan-2013
Trade between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations reached a record high of $400.9 billion in 2012 and the biggest progress in trade facilitation was a consensus on the launch of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
Wanted: answers on TPP impact
11-Jan-2013
This will be a big year for Japan in trade talks. Expanding trade is important for the Japanese economy because Japan lacks natural resources. In conducting trade talks, Japan must (1) try to find agreements beneficial to all negotiating partners while (2) protecting national interests, especially by preventing trade agreements from tearing up communities and from undermining the social policy fabric that Japan has painstakingly established over many decades.
Firm makes history after suing Mauritius in Comesa Court of Justice
11-Jan-2013
Kenyan firms — regardless of their size — can now sue the government in the Common Market for Southern Africa (Comesa) Court of Justice, the highest in the intergovernmental organisation, if its actions break rules of the trading bloc.
Free trade should follow fair elections
11-Jan-2013
Should Australia be signing up, and giving the gift of a Free Trade Agreement with countries that are manifestly undemocratic and authoritarian?
First Nations seek to hold up ratification of Canada-China foreign investment treaty
11-Jan-2013 Toronto Star
First Nations groups have added their voices to opposition to Canada’s planned foreign investment agreement with China, notifying the Harper government they are going to court in an attempt to hold up ratification of the controversial treaty.
Thailand to sign FTA with Pakistan
11-Jan-2013 Pakistan Today
Thailand has expressed its intention to sign a Free Trade Agreement with Pakistan to further promote trade and economic relations between the two countries.
Red Electrica seeks arbitration over Bolivia nationalisation
10-Jan-2013
Spanish power grid operator Red Electrica said on Tuesday it had begun to seek World Bank arbitration over Bolivia’s expropriation of its transmission business TDE.
India, Mauritius to meet next month to review tax treaty
10-Jan-2013 PTI
India and Mauritius will meet next month in the capital to review the bilateral Double Taxation Avoidance Convention (DTAC) which seeks to prevent misuse of the provisions of the near three-decade old treaty.
Call for speedy signing of India-EU FTA
10-Jan-2013 IANS
Leading industrialists and members of government have gathered in New Delhi in a move to speed up signing of the free trade agreement between India and European Union (EU).
Europe not interested in FTA, PTA with Pakistan
10-Jan-2013 The News
Several European countries have declined Pakistan’s offer for signing a free trade agreement (FTA) or preferential trade agreement (PTA) with them as Pakistan will not agree to their demand of opening the auto sector and government procurement under the said agreements.
Transatlantic trade talks near lift-off
10-Jan-2013 Ip-health
Like putting an astronaut on Mars, a US-EU bilateral transatlantic trade deal has been a long-held dream of policy makers that seemed always out of reach. Yet Brussels and Washington are edging closer to the launch pad.
European Commission taken to court over India-EU trade pact
10-Jan-2013 The Hindu
The European Commission is set to appear before an EU Court on Friday, over access to information regarding negotiations on the EU-India Free Trade Agreement.
How to multilateralise Asian regionalism
10-Jan-2013 East Asia Forum
The Asian Financial Crisis of 1997-98 provided the impetus for the region to look to increased regional cooperation to reduce its vulnerability to future financial shocks.
Canada, Benin sign investment protection agreement
9-Jan-2013 Tax-News.com
The Canada-Benin Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement includes an article on corporate social responsibility, which Canada now aims to include in all its future FIPAs.
Canada-EU trade talks continue this month, but Canadian ultimatum on beef too tough for EU tastes
9-Jan-2013 rabble.ca
The New Year has barely begun and European trade negotiators are already in Ottawa for more work on a comprehensive, "gold standard" Canada-EU trade and investment deal (CETA), reports Stuart Trew
Need to align bilateral investment treaty regime with global reality
8-Jan-2013 The Hindu
The changing dynamic of the global economy has led to a transformation in the role of developing countries as both capital importing and exporting States. There is an urgent need to redefine the global BIT regime to reflect this changing paradigm.
China’s investments prompt call for new rules
8-Jan-2013 WSJ
The US is trying to use negotiations over a Pacific free-trade pact, called the Trans-Pacific Partnership, to formulate rules governing the behavior of state-owned concerns. China isn’t a party to the talks, but the US hopes Beijing would ultimately agree to whatever limitations the pact imposes on state-owned companies, reports the Wall Street Journal