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EPA offers opportunities and challenges
20-Aug-2007 Jakarta Post
According to Indonesian Employers Association chairman Sofyan Wanandi, there is no guarantee of an increase in Japanese investment as a result of the Indonesia-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement signed today
Abe, Yudhoyono sign FTA, agree to tackle climate change
20-Aug-2007 Kyodo
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday signed a bilateral free trade agreement and confirmed a shared commitment to tackling global warming beyond 2012.
Canberra pushes hard for fresh deal with India
20-Aug-2007 News.com.au
Australia will attempt to negotiate a free trade agreement with India as part of a historic shift in relations with the emerging economic powerhouse of South Asia.
EU-ASEAN: EU upbeat on prospects
20-Aug-2007 The Nation
Asean and the EU started unofficial talks on the free-trade agreement in Vietnam in July. They are scheduled to draw up a modality framework of the free-trade talks in the Philippines next month. This preparation is before Asean holds official negotiations with the EU early next year.
EAC states avert major dispute over trade agreements with EU
20-Aug-2007 East African
A major dispute between partner states of the East African Community has been averted after the parties agreed that all the five members will now collectively sign one Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union
Tanzania will rue the cost of starting with SADC
20-Aug-2007 East African
With the partner states of the East African Community having agreed to negotiate an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Europe under one roof, Tanzania may be forced to count the cost of forgoing a relatively successful regional grouping in East Africa against political solidarity with Southern Africa’s regional power base — South Africa.
Africa: Lobbies want talks on EU trade pacts held up for three years
19-Aug-2007 AllAfrica.com
Civil society groups in Africa have called for the suspension of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) negotiations between the European Union (EU) and the 77 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries for at least three years to allow African governments to critically look through other regional initiatives they are already engaged in.
Free trade is a prison
19-Aug-2007 East African
As the world prepares to celebrate the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition on August 23, a new book on the lessons learnt from that trade and how its “successor,” free trade is undermining democracy and justice in Africa has just been published.
Indonesia likely to be the loser in Japan agreement
19-Aug-2007 Jakarta Post
Analysts say an economic partnership agreement due to be signed next week between Indonesia and Japan will do more to benefit Japanese companies than domestic Indonesian businesses.
Berlin protesters demonstrate against Israeli products
19-Aug-2007 Haaretz
Protesters held signs reading "No to settlement products" and "Stop the Israel-EU Association Agreement."
WB junks Fraport’s Naia 3 claim
19-Aug-2007 PDI
The World Bank has dismissed the claim for compensation from the Philippine government over the Naia Terminal 3 project of Germany’s Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide (Fraport)
Scramble on for African resources - experts
18-Aug-2007 AllAfrica.com
Both the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and the fast-tracked Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) seem to reflect less a genuine desire in fairer trade for the true benefits of the African economies than securing access to relevant markets and mainly the exploitation of relevant natural resources in the interest of the European Union and the USA, said Executive Director of the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, Dr Henning Melber.
Negotiations on China, Pakistan FTA in services sector conclude
18-Aug-2007 Pakistan Times
China has expressed interest in Islamic banking and the development of industrial zones in Pakistan during the second round of China-Pakistan negotiations on FTA in Services chapter
The water margin
17-Aug-2007 The Guardian
Tanzania was glad to secure the services of a British-led consortium to run the newly privatised water system in its capital Dar es Salaam. But then the price of water started to rise
Fine-tooth comb needed for clauses
17-Aug-2007 The Nation
Article 190 of Thailand’s junta-sponsored draft constitution deals with six paragraphs on FTAs. On the surface, they appear to be a triumph for anti-FTA groups such as FTA Watch. There’s a catch, however.
Scrap the SPP!
17-Aug-2007 Indymedia
The People’s Global Action Bloc is a coalition of various anti-capitalist groups from Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City, Toronto, and Vancouver who will be organizing actions in Montebello and across Canada from August 19-21 to show their resistance to the SPP.
110,000 citizens sign petition opposing move to North American Union
17-Aug-2007 PR Newswire
A newly launched petition protesting a move toward the creation of a North American "framework" has quickly captured the attention of US citizens.
Japan to push business ties in India
17-Aug-2007 Daily Times
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will be taking 200 business executives to India on August 21-23. The two countries have already agreed to forge an economic partnership agreement within two years, and they also have an ambitious plan to build, with Japanese assistance, a $90 billion industrial corridor with state-of-the-art infrastructure linking Delhi and Mumbai.
Toxic treaty favors Japan, not the Philippines
17-Aug-2007 Indybay
“In my view, the JPEPA is an atrocious treaty,” exclaimed international law expert and former Dean of the UP College of Law, Dean Merlin Magallona, one of the invited speakers at a roundtable discussion at the Philippine Senate today, which provided the venue for impacted sectors to share their findings on the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).
Lesotho wants free trade area by 2008, customs union by 2010
17-Aug-2007 Afrique en ligne
President Pakalitha Mosisili of Lesotho called on member states of SADC to address their obligations to ensure that the region realises the Free Trade Area by 2008 and a Customs Union by 2010, in preparation for the creation of a Common Market by 2015 and a common currency by 2018.