Indonesian and Japanese legal consultants at the end of last week finished processing the final draft of the planned Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the two countries, a diplomat said.
SA and the rest of southern Africa needed to rationalise trade blocs to allow for stronger and larger regional economic communities, said Finance Minister Trevor Manuel yesterday.
An imported-beef inspection team appointed by the government went to the United States on June 30 for a four-phase appraisal of the risks of American beef. It should be a precise process but everything from the preparation to the actual inspection made it seem as if they were just going through the motions. You worry whether they were adequately inspecting the beef for mad cow risk.
Dominican Republic still has some 10 commitments pending to fully access the Free Trade Agreement signed with the United States and Central America (DR-CAFTA), and for that reason confronts a situation defined as "serious" against its other competitors.
This Andean nation would be compelled to rethink its close ties to Washington if the Democratic-controlled US Congress refuses to ratify a bilateral free trade agreement, the country's vice president said Thursday.
Trade ministers from Japan and Indonesia have agreed the two nations will sign a bilateral free trade agreement when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visits Indonesia in August, a senior Japanese official said Friday.
Japan's trade supremo Akira Amari has ruled out opening up the country's rice market in a free trade agreement with Australia, saying Japan's aim is to secure a deal that covers "90 per cent" of trade between the two countries.
Japan implicitly turned down a proposal from New Zealand on Thursday to seek a bilateral free trade agreement, noting that agricultural trade will act as a stumbling block.
With Seoul and Washington concluding their renegotiation of the Korea-US free trade agreement (FTA), it has been confirmed there were some ‘‘unfair parts'' added to the economic deal under which investors of both sides are not treated equally in their respective countries.
Pakistan has called for an early conclusion of Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) and Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to provide greater market access for Pakistani products into US markets.
