22-Aug-2004
POLICY REVERSAL: Green light for GMOs
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday bestowed the government’s tacit blessing on the planting and trading of genetically modified (GM) crops by revoking an earlier ban on their commercial use, in defiance of wide opposition from farmers, environmentalists and consumer networks.
20-Aug-2004
Peru FTA on course
Peru’s Vice Minister of Foreign Trade Pablo de la Flor was in Bangkok earlier this week for the third round of free-trade agreement talks between Thailand and Peru.
17-Aug-2004
Al-Ahram Weekly
Arabs have been trying for decades to establish some sort of economic cooperation between them, but without much luck.
14-Aug-2004
RI prepares 50-item FTA with US
The government has proposed 50 products and commodities as the initial focus of a possible future free trade agreement (FTA) between the country and the U.S., according to a senior official at the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
13-Aug-2004
Statement from USTR Spokesman Richard Mills Regarding Australian implementing legislation and amendments related to the FTA
We understand that the FTA implementing legislation and amendments pose important issues in Australia, just as they did in the United States.
13-Aug-2004
Senate passes FTA deal amid US warning
The Coalition and Labor combined to pass the legislation after two weeks of debate in Senate, but the deal could still come unstuck if the US decides Australia’s supporting legislation including Labor’s amendments are not consistent with the agreement.
12-Aug-2004
Selling off a slice of our country
The funny thing about the free trade agreement with the United States is that Australians and Americans see it as being about completely different things. Australia’s businesspeople see it as about eliminating the barriers to exports and imports between the two countries, which they regard as a good thing.
11-Aug-2004
Australian Linux bodies blast US free-trade deal
Australia’s national open source industry body, OSIA (Open Source Industry Australia), and Linux Australia have spoken out about their concerns over the proposed Australian-US Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA), warning that the legal framework of the intellectual property clauses will put the entire Australian software development industry at risk.
11-Aug-2004
Andean Nations Bet on Bio-Trade
"One of the key aspects of the free trade agreement that the United States is negotiating with Colombia, Ecuador and Peru refers to access to the biological wealth of the three South American nations."
11-Aug-2004
FTA set to increase medicine prices
Kerryn Williams spoke to David Henry, clinical pharmacology professor at Newcastle University and former Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee member, about how the proposed US-Australia Free Trade Agreement will undermine the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, and increase the price of medicine.
11-Aug-2004
UE-Mercosur: reinician negociaciones para acuerdo de libre comercio
La Unión Europea y el Mercosur inician hoy en Brasilia el último tramo de negociaciones técnicas con el objetivo de destrabar las diferencias y alcanzar un acuerdo bilateral de libre comercio antes del 30 de octubre, plazo fijado por el cronograma.
9-Aug-2004
US lukewarm to trade pact with RP
The United States appears uninclined to forge a bilateral free trade agreement with the Philippines, citing the latter’s seeming inability to make good its commitments.
8-Aug-2004
R.P. studies free-trade agreement with U.S.
The government is set to pursue plans to enter into an economic partnership or free-trade agreement with its largest trading partner the United States, Trade Undersecretary Thomas Aquino said.
8-Aug-2004
Thousands In Panama Protest Free Trade Talks
Thousands of students, activists and farmers marched through downtown Panama City Thursday to protest U.S.-Panama free trade talks taking place in another part of the city.