ISDS Case Map
ASEAN
China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) signed on Sunday in Cebu an agreement on Trade in Services of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area.
We call on Governments to review existing FTAs and, to postpone for further examination and public scrutiny the FTAs currently being negotiated or proposed, particularly the proposed EU-ASEAN FTA, and FTAs with Japan and the United States under consideration by several ASEAN members.
The proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and the Asean countries is unlikely to materialise during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to the Philippines for the Asean summit beginning January 10.
The way India has traditionally managed its border areas - security being the prime concern - will undergo a radical change this year with the Cabinet Committee on Security clearing a revamp of the infrastructure at major land borders to facilitate trade and commerce.
Asean's primary interest lies in palm oil where it has demanded that duties should be pruned to 30-40% within five years of the implementation of the agreement instead of 50% within 10-12 years period as suggested by India. At present, palm oil attracts a duty of 75%.
India's Christmas offer to cut its negative list to mollify the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) to speed up the snail-paced free trade agreement (FTA) talks does not seem to impress the 10-member regional grouping.
Thailand remained with a deficit of more than Bt1.7 billion (about US$46.6 million) in trade with China under the ASEAN-Sino Free Trade Area (FTA) agreement during the first nine months of this year, according to the Foreign Trade Department.
In a country where oil diplomacy usually relates to petroleum resources, the year 2006 must have come as a lesson for top trade and foreign policy makers.
New Hope, one of China's biggest privately owned companies, is not alone in betting on the business opportunities resulting from the China-Asean FTA and other FTAs with China as a partner.
Economic Ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) rushed on Friday night the signing of six agreements including two protocols to the ASEAN-China FTA. The agreement on trade and services with China was left unsigned.
