ISDS Case Map
ASEAN
The Free Trade Agreement between India and ASEAN will be signed in the first week of March 2009. It will lead to tough competition from Vietnam, whose productivity in tea, coffee and pepper is much higher than India's.
The European Union (EU) will not renew a special tariff scheme for canned tuna from the Philippines and two other Southeast Asian countries, offering, instead, increased market access for the product in its 27 member-countries via a free trade agreement, the top EU representative in the Philippines said in a news conference here Wednesday.
The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) launched a new joint charter on Monday that establishes mutual rules and commitments, moving the 41-year-old grouping one step closer to becoming a unified economic bloc.
Australia will today sign a free-trade agreement with Asean to stimulate trade, services and investment growth.
A new agreement to further strengthen the Common Effective Preferential Tariff-Asean Free Trade Area Agreement 1992 or CEPT-AFTA, has been drawn up and is expected to be signed at the 14th Asean Summit in Thailand.
The “indefinite” postponement of the 14th Asean Summit in Thailand, following the sacking of the Prime Minister of Thailand, Mr Somchai Wongsawat, by the Constitutional Court on Tuesday, has led to the deferment of the signing of the India-Asean free trade agreement scheduled for the third week of this month.
The inability of the government to function lessens the prospect of Thailand failing to get parliament's approval of trade deals vital for ASEAN's economic agenda. The country needs to get the legislature's backing for 30 agreements, including an ASEAN-India free trade agreement and an ASEAN-South Korea free trade agreement.
Local skilled workers will have a chance next year to try their luck in New Zealand, which has agreed to open up to Indonesian workers as part of a free trade agreement (FTA).
India is firm in signing the much-awaited Asean-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in Chiang Mai, Thailand, next month despite some teething problems that may further delay the trade pact, said a top trade official.
Thailand is ready to sign the Asean-South Korea free trade agreement at the Asean Summit in Chiang Mai next month if the plan wins endorsement from Parliament today.
