No Progress on Access to European Markets
Inter Press Service, 31 August, 2011, Servaas van den Bosch
Weariness surrounds the negotiations on an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) regulating trade access between Southern Africa and the European Union (EU). Early September trade officials of the seven-member (Southern African Development Community) SADC-EPA bloc will meet to finalise the agenda for talks with the EU later that same month. More…
Commerce secretary Rahul Khullar heads to LatAm in Panama and Colombia for FTA talks
The Economic Times, 29 August, 2011, Amiti Sen
After shunning Latin America two years ago, the government is now seeking closer economic ties with the region as part of its initiative to diversify markets for Indian merchandise. Commerce secretary Rahul Khullar will be visiting Latin America this week to explore avenues of improving economic cooperation with the countries of the region. More…
Mercosur/Israel trade deal comes into effect following Argentina’s signature
Merco Press (South Atlantic News Agency), 26 August, 2011
A free trade agreement between Israel and Argentina is set to come into effect on September 9, the Israeli Industry, Trade and Labour Ministry announced this week. The arrangement between Israel and Argentina completes the free trade deal Israel signed with the Mercosur bloc of which Argentina is part, but did not initially approve, although it went into effect on January 1, 2010. More…
Vanuatua and Temotu Trade Agreement Signed
Solomon Times (Solomon Island), 25 August, 2011
The Governments of Solomon Islands and Vanuatu has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) last week to open a trade link between Vanuatu and Solomon Islands’ Temotu Province. More…
Homework for trade talks with India, US begins
Republica, 24 August, 2011
The government has initiated preparation for trade talks with the country’s two crucial trade partners-India and the US. “We´ve begun formulating agendas, incorporating pertinent issues for the upcoming bi-lateral talks, and reviewing progress made since the earlier talks with both the countries,” said Toya Narayan Gyawali, joint secretary at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS). More…
Korea, China, Japan to hold 6th study meeting on FTA
Bernama (Malaysia) 24 August, 2011
South Korea, China and Japan will hold their sixth joint study meeting next week on the feasibility of a free trade agreement (FTA) among the three Northeast Asian countries, trade ministry said on Wednesday. The meeting will be held in Changchun in northeastern China from Wednesday to Friday, according to the ministry. More…
Japan-India agreement
The Japan Times, 24 August, 2011
The comprehensive economic partnership agreement between Japan and India went into force Aug. 1. It is Japan’s 12th free trade agreement. In the field of FTAs, Japan is lagging its neighbor South Korea. The latter has already signed FTAs with the United States and the European Union. Its FTA with India went into effect in January 2010. More…
China pleads to Libya to protect Beijing oil interests
Gulf News, 24 August, 2011
China Tuesday urged Libya to protect its investments and said their oil trade benefited both countries, after a Libyan revolutionary warned that Chinese oil companies could lose out after the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi. More…
Free trade and protectionism
The Dawn, 22 August, 2011, Afshan Subohi
The proposal forwarded by the ministry of commerce to further liberalise the trade regime by introducing a uniform rate of 25 per cent custom duty was not taken up in the meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee held on August 16 as scheduled. Sources in Islamabad, privy to the meeting, confirmed that the contentious issue of duty reduction was not even discussed. More…
Some see trade deals as threatening state laws
Associated Press, 21 August, 2011, Dave Gram
A free-trade agreement between the United States and other countries around the Pacific Ocean might not seem like an obvious topic of discussion inside Vermont’s Statehouse. But in Vermont, Maine and other states, there’s growing concern that such agreements could undermine states’ authority in a host of areas, ranging from the regulation of groundwater extraction by bottled water companies, to negotiating lower prices for prescription drugs, to issuance of state approval for a takeover of an electric utility by a foreign-owned company. More…
Turkey, South Africa agree to waive visas, draft free trade agreement
Today’s Zaman, Ankara, 21 August, 2011
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said on Sunday that Turkey has reached an agreement with South Africa to mutually waive visa requirements and increase bilateral visits, with an aim toward enriching diplomatic and trade ties, as he announced plans for a visit to South Africa by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the coming months. More…
Costa Rica, Jamaica Move Forward On Trade Deal
insidecostarica.com , 21 August, 2011
Jamaica and Costa Rica are attempting to press forward with the formal implementation of a seven-year-old-free trade agreement (FTA), and have held talks designed to move the process along. The FTA was signed in 2004 between Costa Rica and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Thus far, only Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Barbados have completed their ratification processes. More…
S. Korea expands support for farming sectors to cut losses from FTAs
Yonhap News Agency, 19 August, 2011
South Korea will expand its financial support for the agricultural and fishing sectors to minimize possible losses from a massive influx of outside products under free trade deals signed with many other countries, the finance ministry said Friday. More…
Pakistan – Sri Lanka FTA review concluded in Colombo
Lanka Web, 19 August, 2011
The Secretarial Level Meeting and talks between Pakistan and Sri Lanka on the bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in Colombo were concluded on August 18. The two sides reviewed several bilateral trade aspects and focused on the possibility of mutual tariff concession entitlements on selected items. More…
India, GCC discuss FTA
The Financial Express, 16 August 2011, Huma Siddiqui
Despite the political turmoil in the Arab world, the talks for a free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) seem to be still on track. More…
FTA saves NZ meat exporters 20 million U.S. dollars in China tariffs
Xinhua, China, 16 August, 2011
New Zealand’s free trade agreement (FTA) with China saved exporters of sheep and cattle products almost 25 million NZ dollars (20.82 million U.S. dollars) last year in tariff payments, according to New Zealand’s meat marketing organization. More…
SEA nations working on free-trade plan
The Nation, Thailand, 16 August, 2011, Petchanet Pratruangkrai
Asean, China, Japan and South Korea will conduct a feasibility study on an East Asia free-trade agreement with the aim of proposing it to the Asean Leaders Summit in November. “The second wave of economic stagnation is now hitting the United States and the European Union. The region must urgently prepare for the impact from the economic crunch by tightening cooperation,” Srirat Rastapana, director-general of the Trade Negotiations Department, said yesterday. More…
India, ASEAN pitches for early conclusion of FTA
Moneycontrol.com, Posted: 13 August, 2011, Updated: 16 August 2011
Trade ministers of India and 10-nation ASEAN today asked their negotiating officials to “step up efforts” and show greater flexibility for early conclusion of the free trade pact in services and investments. More…
G7 seeks to allay investor fears
Bloomberg and Gulf News, 09 August, 2011
Group of Seven nations sought to head off a collapse in investor confidence after the US sovereign-rating cut and a slump in Italian and Spanish debt intensified threats to the global economy. More…
Approval of bilateral investment treaty with Syria
iloubnan.info, 08 August, 2011
The Lebanese Parliament ratified an agreement between Lebanon and Syria that aims to promote private investments between the two signatory nations in each other’s territory, as reported by Lebanon This Week, the economic publication of the Byblos Bank Group. More…
Ukraine-EU ties under pressure
Oman Daily Observer, 08 August, 2011, Zoya Zhminko
The arrest of Ukraine’s former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is unlikely to spark an uprising like the 2004 Orange Revolution but will cause severe strains in ties with the EU, analysts said. More…
Nurturing trade between African countries crucial to development
The Independent (South Africa), 07 August, 2011
Southern African nations have taken steps towards an envisaged $1 trillion (R6.9 trillion) African free trade area but investment data linked to trading indicates a lot of commitment and work lies ahead to achieve the goal, particularly for South Africa as a continental leader. More…
Chinese opposition not a concern of U.S.-Taiwan FTA: scholar
Focus Taiwan News Channel, 04 August, 2011, Chou Yung-chieh and Christie Chen
The real barrier to the signing of a free trade agreement (FTA) between the U.S. and Taiwan is not China’s opposition, but American disinterest and Taiwanese protectionism, a research fellow of the Asian Studies Center at the Heritage Foundation said. More…
US Senators reach compromise on free trade deals
Voice of America, 04 August, 2011
U.S. Senate leaders have reached a potential bipartisan compromise on three long-delayed free-trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday they have come to an agreement on unemployment benefits that will likely allow lawmakers to approve the trade deals once Congress returns from its summer recess. More…
Peru to seek more free trade pacts
ANDINA (Peru), 02 August, 2011
Peru’s new Foreign Trade and Tourism Minister Jose Luis Silva said Monday he will push negotiations on a number of pending and prospective free trade agreements (FTA). The Peruvian government plans to complete trade talks with Central American countries and nations that rim the Pacific Ocean (Trans-Pacific Partnership), Silva said. More…
India-EU FTA negotiations at advanced stage: Scindia
Press Trust of India, New Delhi, 02 August, 2011
Negotiations on a comprehensive free trade pact between India and the European Union, which began in June, 2007, have reached at an “advanced and delicate stage”, Parliament was informed. India is in talks with the 27-nation bloc, its biggest trading partner, for liberalising commerce in goods, services and investment through the bilateral Broad-Based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA). More…
China-Costa Rica FTA takes effect
Xinhua and China Daily, 01 August, 2011
The Free Trade Agreement between China and Costa Rica, signed in April last year, was put into effect Monday, China’s Ministry of Commerce said. The agreement is the 10th of its kind signed by the world’s second largest economy, the ministry said in a statement on its website. As for the trade of goods, at least 90 percent of the goods from both sides will gradually enjoy zero tariff access to each other’s markets. More…
S. Korea posts trade deficit with EU following FTA
Qatar News Agency, 01 August, 2011
South Korea logged a trade deficit with the European Union last month as imports spiked from the region after both implemented a free trade deal, customs data showed. The free trade agreement (FTA) between South Korea and the EU went into effect on July 1. Under the deal, both sides will eliminate or phase out tariffs on 96 percent of EU goods and 99 percent of South Korean goods within three years after the accord takes effect. More…