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Forget EPAs With Europe, Go for GSP-Plus, Activists Say
5-Nov-2008
Developing countries negotiating with the European Union for an economic partnership agreement (EPA) or a free trade agreement should apply for "GSP-Plus" status with the EU, Kenya Civil Society activists say.
Change Has Come To America, But Will It Affect Malaysia?
5-Nov-2008
"Change has come to America" — that was how Barack Obama described his victory in the United States presidential election Wednesday.
The danger of trade agreements
5-Nov-2008 Phnom Penh Post
When Cambodia negotiates an FTA with a hegemonic power, it must use a template which confines the negotiations to trade matters only, says Jagdish Bhagwati
General Electric, Caterpillar push for free trade under Obama
5-Nov-2008 Bloomberg
General Electric Co. and Caterpillar Inc. say the Obama administration should keep trade as open as possible to help boost exports and should resist lawmaker calls for protectionism during the global financial crisis.
Obama win likely to harm S. Korea’s bid for early FTA approval
5-Nov-2008 Yonhap
South Korea’s push to ratify a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States by year’s end is widely expected to face further hurdles following Barack Obama’s election as US president.
India’s ties to Asean must look beyond trade in goods
3-Nov-2008
After the negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement on goods between India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (the India-Asean FTA) were successfully concluded on August 28, consumers now expect to enjoy a wide range of duty-free imports such as textiles, capital goods, plastics and electrical machinery, among many others, from India next year.
Costa Rican economist says CAFTA is a bad deal
3-Nov-2008
Costa Rican economist and former presidential candidate Ottón Solís spent the spring at the University of Florida as the Bacardi Family Eminent Scholar, teaching a course on free-trade agreements in the Americas at the university’s Center for Latin American Studies.
Call for region to embrace free trade agenda
3-Nov-2008
The trade liberalisation agenda in southern Africa and Africa as a whole needed to be strengthened, Tshediso Matona, the director-general of the trade and industry department, said on 30 October.
Tanzania’s land policy unruffled by planned EAC market
2-Nov-2008
The planned common market of the East African Community (EAC) that is expected to become operational in 2010 will not affect Tanzania’s land policy, it has been said. Opening a parliamentary seminar that discussed the EAC common market debate here yesterday, the Minister for East African Cooperation Dr Diodorus Kamala insisted that foreigners would not be given mandate to buy or own land in Tanzania.
Group negotiation with EU not dead
2-Nov-2008
Presidents of Andean Community, or CAN, member countries met in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on Oct. 14 as part of an urgent effort to rescue derailed group talks for a trade agreement with the European Union. Talks stalled in June for the trade pact after the European Union agreed to negotiate the accord separately with Colombia and Peru, as both countries are governed by pro-free trade presidents, unlike the presidents of fellow CAN countries Ecuador and Bolivia.
Afro-trade bloc will draw FDI and reduce costs, SADC boss
2-Nov-2008
The proposed merger of the EAC, SADC and COMESA will help reduce the cost of doing business for companies within the 26 countries and boost foreign direct investment (FDI) to levels never seen before.
EAC states should agree to one trading bloc, says IMF
2-Nov-2008
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has challenged three East African Community (EAC) partner states to agree to one regional trade bloc in order to make the customs union (CU) more effective.
Group slams PM’s decision to sign Economic Partnership Agreement
2-Nov-2008
The Civil Society Network of St Lucia (CSNS) has criticised the decision of Prime Minister Stephenson King to sign the controversial Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Europe.
Sacu spells out its nuanced position on EPAs
2-Nov-2008
Technical issues and demands by the EU such as the automatic extension to the EC of future trade benefits given to third countries, export taxes, the integrity of the common external tariff of Sacu, the movement of goods between members of the proposed free trade area and infant industry protection are Sacu’s major concerns.
Mitsubishi looks at ASEAN trade pact for hub in India
2-Nov-2008
Mitsubishi Motors of Japan is looking forward to a free trade pact between India and the 10-nation Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to start production in the country and make it an export hub, a top official has said.
Impatient Free Traders
2-Nov-2008
It is natural that the government shifts its focus from the financial sector to the real economy in dealing with the ongoing crisis.
Value of mandatory review in Joint Declaration on EPA
2-Nov-2008
Coinciding with the signing in Barbados on October 15 of the Economic Partnership Agreement between the European Union and the CARIFORUM countries (Caricom plus the Dominican Republic) was a Joint Declaration that resulted from an initiative by Guyana as a compromise for its decision to also be a signatory to the accord. Professor Norman Girvan examines "the significance" of this mandatory review as provided for in the Joint Declaration.
Free Trade Opens Environmental Window
1-Nov-2008
Legislative decree 1090, which modifies Peru’s forest policy, is worrying U.S. trade authorities because it contravenes environmental clauses of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that is to enter force between the two countries in January 2009.
Serbia, Turkey to sign free trade agreement next year
1-Nov-2008
Deputy Prime Minister for EU integration Bozidar Djelic announced today that next year Serbia and Turkey will sign an agreement on free trade.
Preparation to Facilitate EPAs Talks Underway
1-Nov-2008
A ’white document’ meant to facilitate negotiations between regional economic blocs and the European Union (EU) under the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) has been finalised.