Pacific Islands / Pacific Forum
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6-Aug-2008 Pacific Magazine
NGO says Australia bullying Pacific over free trade deal
Australia has been accused of trying to fast-track new free trade negotiations with Pacific Island countries at a recent regional trade ministers’ meeting in the Cook Islands.
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25-Jul-2008 RNZI
Pacific ministers agree to broaden work on PACER
This may include setting up a regional office to focus on issues of traditional knowledge and intellectual property rights.
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9-Jun-2008 Islands Business
Sovereignty or solidarity? Pacific changes tack as Europe wins first round in trade talks
Sovereignty must be partially surrendered if Pacific islands countries are to maintain solidarity in trade negotiations. Pacific countries who are members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific bloc of states had a rude realisation of this basic and age-old truth in their on-going negotiations with the European Commission for an economic partnership agreement.
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28-Apr-2008 Radio Australia
Tuvalu ratifies Pacific trade agreement
Tuvalu has become the 11th Pacific Forum Country to ratify the Pacific Island Countries Trade Agreement (PICTA).
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18-Apr-2008 Pacific Network on Globalisation
Pacific trade ministers slam EU Trade Commissioner Mandelson
New letters show extent of dissent among Pacific trade ministers as ministers accuse top EU trade official of being "domineering" and using divide and rule tactics to split the region.
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1-Apr-2008 Fiji Times
Pacific: Trade ministers to finalise deals
Senior trade officials from around the Pacific region will finalise trade deals as an extension to the existing Pacific Islands Countries Trade Agreement by October.
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29-Mar-2008
Trade ministers band together
The Pacific ACP Trade Ministers from the region have agreed to proceed as a group with negotiations of a comprehensive economic partnership agreement with the European Commission by the end of the year.
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26-Mar-2008 APRN
Summary of documents from “To oppose FTAs: Making people matter”
APRN have uploaded some of the papers and PPT presented at the “To Oppose FTAs: Making People Matter” held last September 4-6, 2007 in Sydney, Australia.
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4-Mar-2008
Trade deals spark warning
The Pacific Network on Globalisation warned Pacific governments to be wary of viewing Pacific Island Countries Trade Agreement as "stepping stone" towards free trade deals with rich nations.
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28-Feb-2008
Crean spruiks free trade in Pacific
The tiny island nations of the south Pacific should have high ambitions heading into free trade negotiations with Australia, Trade Minister Simon Crean says.
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7-Dec-2007
EU-Pacific interim FTA (2007)
Initialled by Papua New Guinea and Fiji on 23 November 2007
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3-Nov-2007 Islands Business
EU gives Pacific breathing space
Pacific Islands countries have been given a breathing space after the European Commission decided to extend the deadline for the signing of the Economic Partnership Agreement between the two parties to December next year. However, negotiations will be held this month on an interim agreement on the trading of goods and possibly services.
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3-Nov-2007 Islands Business
China-Pacific: How to tap the growing China market
An FTA between China and the Pacific will be lopsided in favour of China, says Rohan Ellis, head of the Beijing-based Pacific Islands Forum Trade Office
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22-Oct-2007 Fiji Times
When colonies come of age
As the deadline for a new trade deal with the European Union approaches, the question on people’s minds is: Are developing countries in the Pacific still willing to play?
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5-Oct-2007 Reuters
EU, Pacific countries to seek interim trade deal
The European Union and Pacific countries agreed on Tuesday to seek an interim new trade deal, to enter into force on 1 January, while they continue negotiating an EPA by end of 2008.
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1-Oct-2007 ICTSD
An analysis of the EC non-paper on the objectives and possible elements of an IP section in the EC-Pacific EPA
The combination of the time-factor, the TRIPS-plus implications of many of the elements suggested by the EC, the challenges that would face non-WTO Pacific countries to even adhere to TRIPS and the general level of development in these countries, it is strongly recommended that Pacific countries do not agree to the inclusion of an IP section in the EC-Pacific EPA.
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6-Sep-2007 Islands Business
PACER: Islands could lose $10m anually in revenue
Some Pacific island countries stand to lose up to US$10 million annually in revenue due to trade liberalisation under the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations, according to a report commissioned by the Secretariat of the Pacific Islands Forum
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3-Sep-2007
Draft EU-Pacific EPA (Aug 2007)
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31-Aug-2007 The Pacific Islands Forum and its Secretariat
Pacific ACP countries express deep concern at EU trade deal proposal
Pacific trade officials and legal experts have expressed their disappointment and deep concern at the draft text proposed by the European Commission for an Economic Partnership Agreement covering trade in goods, trade in services, fisheries, investment and development cooperation.
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31-Aug-2007
US-NZ Partnership Forum: Neo-liberalism - Pacific Style
According to the organizers, this year’s US-NZ Partnership Forum will in part focus on the, “potential for the United States and New Zealand to cooperate on ... economic development and sustainability in the Asia Pacific region.”
