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EC threatens to withhold aid funds over EPA
2-Aug-2007
Just before the Pacific ACP Trade Ministers Meeting opened in Vanuatu on 31 July 2007, the Deputy Head of the Pacific desk in the EC’s DG Development sent the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat an email that stated the Pacific’s allocation of the European Development Fund would be cut by 48% if it does not sign up to an EPA and by 26% if a goods-only agreement is concluded.
Chilean legislature approves free trade agreement with Japan
2-Aug-2007 Servihoo
The Chilean legislature late Tuesday approved a free trade agreement with Japan that will likely be signed into law when President Michelle Bachelet’s visits Tokyo in September.
Arroyo trade-pact pitch with Japan nixed
1-Aug-2007 Inquirer
Independent think-tank group IBON Foundation scoffed at President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s call for the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to conclude a regional free-trade agreement with Japan despite strong protests against the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).
Beware Europeans bearing gifts
1-Aug-2007 WNSC
After the emerging disaster of CAFTA, Central American countries recently launched into a new round of trade negotiations, this time with the European Union.
Shut down the NZ-US Partnership Forum, Sept. 7-11
1-Aug-2007 Infoshop News
Between the 9th and 11th of September, 2007, Auckland will host the second annual "United States-New Zealand Partnership Forum". We intend to protest and if possible shut down this forum and disrupt the related activities and events.
’EPA is terrorism act’
1-Aug-2007 GBF
The EU is doing almost everything possible, both legally and illegally, to get the EPA signed, according to Kwabena Okai Ofosuhene of the Abibimman Foundation in Ghana. “It is very unfortunate and sad that there are key elements within the ECOWAS Commission who are working secretly to enable the EU achieve this.”
Pacific Forum admits problems sealing a Economic Partnership Agreement
1-Aug-2007 Radio Fiji
The Pacific Forum has for the first time publicly admitted there have been problems in sealing an Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union.
Mexico in Mercosur ’essential’
1-Aug-2007 Buenos Aires Herald
Mexico’s entry to Mercosur is “essential,” President Néstor Kirchner insisted yesterday after a meeting with his Mexican peer Felipe Calderón in Mexico City.
Multilateral still better than bilateral talks
1-Aug-2007 IPS
"When we try to negotiate as individual countries, we give the Europeans the ammunition to divide and discriminate against us", said Zimbabwe’s Deputy Minister of Information and Publicity Bright Matonga.
Mauritius, Pakistan to create free trade zone
1-Aug-2007 Afrique en ligne
Mauritius and Pakistan have announced plans to create a free trade zone between the two countries by 2009 and have preferential trade exchanges by 30 November.
The end of the age of free trade
1-Aug-2007 Voltaire.net
The Russian government presented three days ago a draft law stipulating that selling the shares of any strategic company to foreign investors is prohibited unless it is approved by a special governmental committee headed by the Prime Minister.
China to seal FTA with ASEAN before signing one with Singapore
1-Aug-2007 Channel News Asia
China will likely conclude the free trade agreement (FTA) with ASEAN first before sealing a similar deal with Singapore, said Chinese Ambassador to Singapore, Zhang Xiaokang.
ALBA: From dream to reality
1-Aug-2007 Venezuelanalysis
ALBA has become the new historical focus of Latin America and the Caribbean, placing people’s needs above market mechanisms and the accumulation of capital.
Colombia: indigenous protest in capital
31-Jul-2007 WW4 Report
Some 1,700 indigenous people participated in a July 23-27 caravan to Bogota from Santander de Quilichao in the southwestern Colombian department of Cauca to demand peace, to call for popular unity and to oppose a "free trade" agreement (TLC, from its initials in Spanish) that the government of President Alvaro Uribe has signed with the US.
Peru, Mexico extend economic agreement
31-Jul-2007 People’s Daily
Peru and Mexico have agreed to extend their current Economic Agreement, due to end on Dec 31 this year, until June 30 2008. Meanwhile, talks on a bilateral free trade treaty are set to be reopened in September in Mexico City.
Chile free trade agreement will not cost Aust jobs, Truss says
31-Jul-2007 ABC
The peak stonerfruit body, Summerfruit Australia, says cheap fruit and vegetable imports due to an Australia-Chila free trade agreement could wipe out 5,000 jobs.
Japanese elections raise doubts over free trade
31-Jul-2007 ABC
The Japanese Liberal Democratic Party has suffered huge election losses in rural areas, where the proposed free trade deal with Australia is highly unpopular.
RP-based Korean firms seek free trade deal
31-Jul-2007 PDI
Korean investors want more liberal trade between South Korea and the Philippines through a regional free trade agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as a meeting among economic ministers in the region approaches.
Kenya: Govt should be cautious in free trade negotiations
31-Jul-2007 Kenya Times
To many sugarcane-dependent families in western Kenya, January 2008 will come with adverse consequences to livelihoods and life itself as Kenya joins more efficient sugar producers in the free market regimes of COMESA and EPA.
Costa Rica urged to fess up FTA survey
31-Jul-2007 Prensa Latina
The Pro-Liberation Front against the Central America Free Trade Agreement-Dominican Republic (CAFTA-DR) demanded the Costa Rican government publish results of a poll it commissioned about the level of public support for the agreement.