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EFTA and Ecuador make progress towards FTA
17-Oct-2017     Tax-news
The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) states and Ecuador held their fourth round of negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement on October 9-13 in Geneva, Switzerland.
South Africa fails to exploit free trade agreement access to massive EU market
17-Oct-2017     Daily Maverick
So-called SPS – Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary – issues identified as the main culprit. "Sometimes ostensible SPS issues were in fact disguised trade protectionism," said South Africa Trade Minister.
Canada set to open Mercosur trade talks in December: sources
17-Oct-2017     Reuters
Canada and the South American trade bloc Mercosur will announce in December the opening of negotiations for a free-trade deal during the World Trade Organization’s annual meeting in Argentina.
Fearing an end to NAFTA, Mexico looks to Middle East for new trade partners
17-Oct-2017     Panam Post
Jose Antonio Meade, Secretary of Finance and Public Credit of Mexico, said that the country will seek to diversify its trade relations with other countries. Trade agreements with the Middle East and Turkey will be a priority.
The milk crisis in India: The story behind the numbers
17-Oct-2017     Food Sovereignty Alliance
This book tells the story of how global trends including the ongoing threats of trade agreements such as the EU-India FTA and the RCEP are driving countless small dairy farmers into debt and ultimately out of farming.
France seeks food safety inclusion in EU-Mercosur deal - envoy
17-Oct-2017     Reuters
France will propose changing the European Commission’s mandate to negotiate a trade deal with South America’s Mercosur bloc to include food safety provisions.
55 groups call for a meaningful CSO engagement in the 20th RCEP Round
17-Oct-2017    
Joint sign-on letter of civil society organisations to Trade Ministers of RCEP negotiating countries.
Fresh talks on free trade pact with EU to give equal weight to goods, services, investment
16-Oct-2017     The Hindu
India and the European Union (EU) are set to begin talks soon on re-starting stalled negotiations for a free trade pact but New Delhi will not favour pre-conditions, such as prioritising an investment agreement that the 29-member bloc had earlier insisted upon.
US proposes gutting Nafta legal-dispute tribunals
16-Oct-2017     Bloomberg
US Nafta negotiators are proposing to essentially do away with the independent tribunals that oversee the trading and investment relationship.
BoI working on its own template for BIT
16-Oct-2017     Business Recorder
The government of Pakistan would not be made liable for private investor disputes. Alternative dispute resolution mediation would be made compulsory, while foreign arbitrators would be decided in advance through consensus.