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BusinessEurope position on the EU-Korea free-trade agreement
25-Jul-2007
BUSINESSEUROPE would like to see an agreement based on full coverage, full reciprocity and effective market access for industrial goods, ambitious services liberalisation of as many sectors as possible, strong rules to foster and protect investments, and strong rules on trade facilitation, competition and public procurement.
New rating poses threat to Kenya’s trade terms
24-Jul-2007 Business Daily Africa
Kenya’s terms of trade in the international market may change for the worse following its recent removal from the list of the world’s Least Developed Countries, it has emerged.
Africans fear ’ruin’ in Europe trade talks
24-Jul-2007 AllAfrica.com
African governments, policy analysts, regional economic groups and civil society organizations are increasingly speaking with one voice: the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) now being hammered out between Europe and the ACP countries must be significantly modified to safeguard those countries’ prospects for development.
Fish exporters set conditions for EPAs
23-Jul-2007
With barely five months to go before the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) come into force, it is still unclear whether agreements in the negotiations will be reached.
New trade deals: Africa to lose out as EU gains
23-Jul-2007
As Africa’s leaders met in Accra, Ghana, last week to consider ways of consolidating continental unity through increased trade, pertinent questions were being raised over the impact that a new trade arrangement between the European Union and the 75-member ACP trading bloc will have on regional integration.
EU demands greater access to South Korean agri market at FTA talks
23-Jul-2007 Asia Pulse
The EU claims there are considerable gaps between what Seoul is offering Brussels and what was agreed upon with Washington
CEMAC, whither to with EPAs?
21-Jul-2007
"These are not free trade agreements in the way anyone understand them. They are development tools, trade and Aid working together to deliver sustainable growth" Peter Mandelson, EU Trade Commissioner. The above is one of the high profiled empty speeches, characteristic feature of EU trade diplomacy. When Mandelson made the above speech, I came to the conclusion that I have witnessed the highest degree of hypocrisy since I came into this planet earth.
Korea-EU FTA talks see differences over IPR & cars
21-Jul-2007 Chosun Ilbo
Already, the EU has shunned Korea’s request to include goods made in the inter-Korean industrial park in North Korea’s border city of Kaeseong in their potential FTA and requested Korea to introduce a system in which cafes and restaurants pay royalties to music producers and performers.
EPAs may stifle struggling flower industry
20-Jul-2007
Uganda’s flower industry needs government incentives and preferential European Union (EU) access to succeed, say members of the east African nation’s floricultural sector.
Can biofuels become sustainable?
20-Jul-2007 European Voice
Sustainability and trade barriers in biofuels could be addressed through new economic partnership agreements (EPAs), which are currently being negotiated with countries from the African, Caribbean and Pacific bloc. “New EPAs and the EDF will provide a framework for action on trade in biofuels,” a spokesman for the European development commissioner said. “From 2008 onwards this issue will become much more visible.”
New Danish strategy targets free trade with emerging markets in Asia
20-Jul-2007 Ministry of Foreign Affairs
A new trade policy strategy from the Government of Denmark aims at supporting ambitious EU bilateral and regional free trade and investment agreements — especially with new growth markets in Asia.
EPA threatens the Human Right to Food of peasant farmers in Ghana
20-Jul-2007
Import surges of tomato paste and chicken parts already have severe impact on the ability of Ghanaian peasant farmers to feed their families. Cuts in the levels of import tariffs on these products, through an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the EU, are likely to cause further violations of their Human Right to adequate Food.
Discord among delegations in EU trade negotiations
19-Jul-2007
With the European Union and South Korea starting their talks on a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) in Brussels, Korean negotiators remain divided over how to open the country’s market to one of the world’s largest economic blocks. The cacophony represents the fact that the government has not put in enough effort to gather consensus before negotiations began and only pushes for the conclusion of the economic deal in a hasty way.
EC grants Ecowas 44.8m Euros
18-Jul-2007
The European Commission has approved a total of 44.8 million Euros to support regional integration in West Africa over a period of five years, from 2007 to 2011.
Free trade agreement with EU possible only after Azerbaijan’s WTO accession, deputy foreign minister says
18-Jul-2007
“There are common factors in Azerbaijan’s integration into Europe and accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO),” Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammadguliyev told journalists, APA reports. He said that European Union approves the idea of Azerbaijan’s WTO membership.
OECS trade ministers discuss European trade
18-Jul-2007
OECS Trade Ministers accommodated the European Commission’s principal negotiator for the Economic Partnership Agreement, Karl Falkenburg on Wednesday.
CEFTA needs one more ratification
17-Jul-2007
The Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) needs one more country to ratify it before it can take effect.
Africa ’’will not be the winner’’ of the EPAs
17-Jul-2007
"I do not know if a winner will emerge from the signing of the economic partnership agreement under the current conditions but I know for sure that Africa cannot be the winner," says Amadou Ba, who heads the international negotiations division at Senegal’s ministry of commerce.
S. Korea, EU have differences over automobiles in free trade talks
17-Jul-2007
South Korea and the European Union are struggling to narrow differences on tariffs and safety regulations on automobile trade as they try to forge an ambitious free trade agreement, a top South Korean negotiator said Tuesday.
CARIFORUM divided on liberalisation issue - Economic Partnership Agreement under threat
17-Jul-2007 Jamaica Gleaner
A disagreement among the members of CARIFORUM, which represents the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Dominican Republic, could cause a delay in the group completing negotiations on the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).