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Bangladesh to propose FTA with Malaysia
5-Jun-2005     Daily Star
Bangladesh will propose a Free Trade Agreement with Malaysia in Bangladesh-Malaysia Joint Commission meeting to be held on June 6-7, after a break of 10 years.
Thaksin asks India to speed up FTA deal
4-Jun-2005    
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra stressed speeding up the process of finalising the Free Trade Area agreement between Thailand and India during his one-day working visit to the Indian capital on Friday.
FTA delay hits garment industry - Bahrain
4-Jun-2005    
Bahrain's beleaguered garment industry will face additional pressure from a move being presently considered by the American government to sign trade agreements with 16 countries that will allow major garment industry hubs such as Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to move more finished garments to US buyers with reduced or no customs duties.
'FTA misusers will be punished'
4-Jun-2005    
The Centre on Saturday warned that any misuse of the Free Trade Agreements (FTA) would lead to criminal prosecution of those involved in such practice.
The rise and rise of Asian trade
4-Jun-2005     Business Times
A mammoth regional grouping involving Asean and other countries and groups is in the works.
Pacific Island nations seek closer economic ties with NZ, Australia
4-Jun-2005     Angola Press
Pacific Islands Forum countries have decided it is now time to move beyond their existing SPARTECA agreement with Australia and New Zealand, according to reports from Nadi, Fiji, on Friday.
Will CAFTA be a boon to farmers and the food industry? NAFTA's failed promises are doomed to be repeated
3-Jun-2005     Economic Policy Institute
Promoters of the proposed Dominican Republic/Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) have asserted that it will provide significant benefits to the U.S. economy, especially to the agricultural sector. Similar promises were made in the debate on the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1992 and 1993. However, since that time NAFTA has failed to live up to these promises, and similar promises made for CAFTA are even less likely to be fulfilled.
Media info note: Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement
3-Jun-2005     Singapore FTAs
On 3 Jun 05, the trade ministers of Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore announced the substantive conclusion of the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (“Trans-Pacific SEP”) on the sidelines of the APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade (MRT) meeting in Jeju (Korea).
S'pore, Brunei, Chile, NZ sign trans-Pacific trade pact
3-Jun-2005     Channel News Asia
New Zealand, Brunei, Chile and Singapore announced a trans-Pacific free trade pact to improve market access between the countries.
Are corporations hog-tying conservation groups in CAFTA fight?
3-Jun-2005     Grist
Missing from the fight against CAFTA is an elite subset of the environmental movement: the international biodiversity conservation organizations. Not one of the four major groups in this field -- Conservation International, the World Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy, and the Wildlife Conservation Society -- has demonstrated the courage to oppose CAFTA, despite ample opportunity over the past year.