ISDS Case Map
ASEAN
Visiting General Secretary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Ong Keng Yong has said that he supports a proposal by Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Toshihiro Nikai to establish a free trade area in East Asia and a regional policy coordinating organisation following the model of the Organisation of Economic and Cooperation Development.
The joke in South Block nowadays is that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is ever so keen to visit Pakistan because he finds it easier to deal with General Pervez Musharraf than to deal with his Cabinet colleagues. If Mr Arjun Singh ambushed him and sent the entire country into a caste driven frenzy, one of his other Ministerial colleagues leaked the contents of a letter to the Prime Minister from Congress president Sonia Gandhi expressing concern over the free trade agreement that India had signed with its ASEAN partners.
Pakistan and Association of the South East Asian Nations (Asean) yesteray agreed to begin talks for signing a free trade agreement (FTA), officials said.
Thailand has reaffirmed that it did not sign the Asean-South Korean free trade agreement on goods because of rice. South Korea insisted on excluding rice under its sensitive list, but Thailand, the world's largest rice exporter, demanded that it open up its local market.
Here is the final word on the Indo-Asean free trade agreement (FTA) - bigger than any other trade pact that India has entered into so far.
The United States Trade Representative Office (USTR) said a trade and investment framework agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) would be concluded soon.
The European Union is likely to decide by the end of the year whether to launch talks on a comprehensive trade agreement with south-east Asia, its first in Asia. The EU move is seen as a response to a widening web of bilateral deals being negotiated in the region by the US, China, Japan and Korea that threaten to sideline European economic interests.
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's letter to the PM on the possible downside of the India-Asean FTA has sparked off a debate. How far should India accommodate Asean's interests?
South Korea signed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Tuesday but founding member Thailand was left out due to internal disagreements and objections to Seoul's barriers on farm products.
The European Union wants to strike a free-trade agreement (FTA) with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), but human rights issues in Myanmar could be a problem, EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson has said.
