Confronting the bilateral FTAs will no doubt present fresh difficulties for activists. After all, bilateral negotiations were advancing with or without the multilateral body.
Federal Labor Leader Kim Beazley has urged caution in negotiating a free trade agreement with China, as federal cabinet shows signs of a split over parts of the proposed deal.
"We are learning new things while we're negotiating with the American representatives," said a Korean official who was part of the labor section negotiation team during the first round of the Korea-U.S. FTA talks, held in Washington last June. "The U.S. is demanding the introduction of a so-called 'public communication system,' which was a term that we heard for the first time," the negotiator told Hankyoreh.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said Pakistan and Thailand had agreed to finalise Free Trade Agreement (FTA) before the end of this year to further promote and boost bilateral trade and economic relations.
The Irish poet WB Yeats wrote that when things fall apart, the centre cannot hold. The Doha round has finally fallen apart. What, if anything, can hold the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the multilateral trading system together?
Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer says Australia does not want to disrupt investment plans in the automotive and clothing industries through its free trade negotiations with China.
A free trade agreement (FTA) between Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) and China, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia and India (East Asia FTA) is possible in the next 10 years, Asean secretary-general, Ong Keng Yong, said Tuesday.
Security concerns over investments from China is impacting the proposed Bilateral Investment Promotion Agreement with Beijing. North Block's proposal to amend the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) is stuck, delaying the signing of the agreement.
Thailand is included in a group of 13 countries that may lose preferential tariffs when the US revamps its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program at the end of the year, US officials said yesterday.
Thailand yesterday dismissed news reports that political problems at home had delayed negotiations on free-trade agreements (FTAs) among members of the regional Bimstec trade bloc.
Last week, Sanjaya Baru, the media advisor to the prime minister, and an economist in a previous avatar, published a book called The Strategic Consequences of India's Economic Performance. Amongst other things in it, he argues for more regional trading agreements.
Seoul National University President Chung Un-chan, who is also a prominent economist, has criticized the government's handling of the free trade agreement with the United States as hasty application of theory.
The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Colombia and the United States that could be signed in October or November this year will maintain the tariff exemptions already enjoyed by Colombia's flourishing flower industry. But there are no plans for higher wages and better working conditions for the industry's 100,000 workers.
