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Turkey seeks seat at US-EU trade table
17-May-2013     Reuters
Turkey is pushing for involvement in a proposed free trade pact between the United States and Europe which it fears could leave it sidelined and hamper its ambitions to become a top 10 economy over the next decade.
Rival trade pacts could converge
16-May-2013     China Daily
Separate multiparty free-trade talks in Asia backed by China and the United States are generally seen as a rivalry between the world's two biggest economies, but some experts say the agreements could prove complementary and ultimately converge.
European firms push Thai-EU FTA talks
16-May-2013     The Nation
Representatives of the European business community in Thailand yesterday said the country's service sector was in a dangerous situation due to strict local regulations that obstruct foreign investment, especially from Europe.
TIFA will help ease trade in West Africa
16-May-2013     B&FT
If concluded, the TIFA will create opportunities for US companies interested in doing business in West Africa, and will assist in addressing impediments to U.S. trade and investment in the region.
EU-India FTA talks stuck; insurance could be game spoiler
16-May-2013     PTI
Talks between India-EU chief negotiators on FTA today got stuck with the European bloc making clear that the pact cannot proceed unless the insurance sector was further opened up by New Delhi, which expressed its inability to do so without Parliament approval.
IPR lists for trans-Atlantic trade deal still growing; Risk of locking in old IPR regimes?
16-May-2013     IP Watch
Locking in Europe and the United States to “old” intellectual property regimes is the one “killer argument” against including an IP chapter in the upcoming Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), according to Bernd Hugenholtz, director of the Institute for Information Law (IViR) at the University of Brussels.
Malaysia and the TPPA
16-May-2013     FTA Malaysia
If we put the USTR Report on foreign trade barriers, together with discussions surrounding the ‘leaked’ TPPA chapters and texts on investment, intellectual property, regulatory coherence and transparency, among others, we get a clearer picture of what’s at stake, what changes are being planned to our laws, regulations and policies, and who are the stakeholders who stand to benefit the most from those changes.
In whose interest is EU-India FTA being negotiated?
16-May-2013    
NGOS, academics, patient groups, humanitarian organisations, trade unions, farmers groups and mass movements, representing hundreds of organisations and networks across the country, asked Mr. Anand Sharma, the Minister of Commerce and Industry, to explain to the nation which sectors and who exactly are benefiting from the FTA that is currently being negotiated with the European Union.
Can FTAs support ‘Factory Asia’?
16-May-2013     VoxEU
Are free trade agreements good for ‘Factory Asia’? This column argues that rather than supporting ‘Factory Asia’, it is more likely that fragmentation trade has prospered despite the noodle bowl of overlapping FTAs in the region.
A treaty too many
14-May-2013     Down to Earth
India is learning that there is a heavy price to be paid for the large number of bilateral investment treaties, or BITs, it has signed in the hope of attracting foreign investment.