ISDS Case Map
ASEAN
The European Commission has adopted negotiating mandates for new free trade agreements with trade partners in the 10-nation Asean bloc plus India and South Korea, according to a news release from Brussels.
Law Society president Fiona Woolf is visiting Brussels today to lobby the European Commission on the liberalisation of legal services in Asia.
The EU Council, and the Representatives of the Member States meeting within the Council, officially gave the Commission "the green light" to start FTA negotiations with India, Korea and ASEAN.
European Union exports would rise by 40 billion euros ($54.3 billion) a year if the bloc reaches planned new free trade agreements (FTAs) with countries in Asia, the European Commission said.
The European Commission has welcomed the formal adoption by European Member
States of negotiating mandates for a new generation of Free Trade Agreements with
India, South Korea and ASEAN.
India will ensure that the proposed Free Trade Agreement with ASEAN does not end up as a 'palm oil FTA.' Palm oil products currently represent 77% of India's edible oil imports.
Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are likely to wrap up negotiations in early May for the liberalization of trade in goods, paving the way for Tokyo's first free-trade deal with a regional bloc, government sources said Wednesday.
India has offered a new set of concessions to the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean), during the negotiations in the last two months for a proposed free trade agreement.
China is making deep inroads in the region because of its trade initiatives, but Indian companies would be calling the shots in future, and the Asia-Pacific region might become a market for them.
On two counts, the 27-28 March Arab League summit in Riyadh could be the beginning of a turning point in the tumultuous history of the Middle East post-1948.
