Thailand will ask the European Union to put the more than 700 export items that are at risk of losing export privileges in two years into an “early harvest” scheme under a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA).
Investment policy makers and investment treaty negotiators from the 15-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) convened in Pretoria, South Africa recently to engage in clause by clause in-depth discussions of the draft SADC Model Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) Template and Commentary.
As the start of trade talks on a comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union nears, African Caribbean Pacific countries have been urged by Fiji's trade minister not to allow themselves to be forced into a deal that undermines each country's independence.
Malaysian Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, which is being negotiated among eleven countries including the US and Malaysia, would be detrimental to the local medical industry.
The European Union is examining a request by France to require South Korea to give advanced warning of planned car exports to the EU, the first step towards the possible re-introduction of duties a year after a free-trade deal came into effect.
Is it an exaggeration to speculate that drug trafficking and exploitative globalized corporate practices formalized under free-trade agreements (grounded in a race to the bottom on labor costs and environmental degradation) are two sides of the same profiteering coin?
Last week, a few short paragraphs of text were leaked that revealed something of the terms on fair use being negotiated in secret by the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Pakistani businessmen who intend to invest in India should be given legal cover to ensure that no future government in Delhi reverses the decision to allow investments from Pakistan, a leading trade lobby has said.
Pakistan's Ministry of Commerce is negotiating trading arrangements with Mercosur countries like Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela and Andean Community (CAN) a trade bloc comprising the South American countries of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru to increase it’s trade market access.
Products produced in the Israeli settlements located within the territories brought under Israeli administration since June 1967 are not entitled to benefit from preferential tariff treatment under the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
Japan’s government wants it. Mitsubishi Corp. backs it. Toyota Motor Corp. says they need it to compete. Yet, whether Japan joins the biggest attempt at a global free-trade pact may hinge on part-time rice farmers like Tadashi Hirose. And he doesn’t much like it.
South Africa will avoid entering into bilateral investment treaties (BITs) in future, except where there are compelling economic and political circumstances, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said on Thursday.
A senior US diplomat is to visit Taiwan this month, officials said Wednesday, as Taipei looks to resume free trade talks with Washington after lifting a six-year-old ban on some US beef imports.
