ISDS Case Map
Asia
There is increasing and irrefutable evidence that free trade deals devalue and homogenise cultures, stunt economic development, displace communities and are major drivers of increasing rural and urban poverty. Women are disproportionately affected.
APRN have uploaded some of the papers and PPT presented at the “To Oppose FTAs: Making People Matter” held last September 4-6, 2007 in Sydney, Australia.
If the Canadian federal government proceeds with a free trade agreement with Korea as promised, the impact on Canadian communities would be disastrous, according to a new study released by the CAW on October 23.
Filmed in Thailand and The Philippines in July 2007, Squeezed tells the story of how free trade agreements and globalisation are changing the lives of millions of people living in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Asia Pacific Research Network (APRN) and AID/WATCH are pleased to invite you to a strategy workshop on the FTAs entitled: “To Oppose FTAs: Making People Matter”, that will take place on September 4-6, 2007 in Sydney, Australia. The Strategy Workshop on the FTAs is an open and public gathering of trade campaigners within the region specifically timed to coincide with the APEC Leaders' Meeting in Sydney.
Trade Minister Warren Truss has accused China and its neighbours of "unrealistic" fears that 140,000 farmers in Australia could wipe out a billion farmers in Asia if there were free trade in agriculture.
While most Asian countries are negotiating free trade agreements, very few of those deals have resulted in any real benefits, a World Bank study shows.
Asian economic regionalism, driven by active FTAs, reached a decisive point recently as China, South Korea, Japan and ASEAN countries compromised on the plan for financial reserves to put the possible financial crisis under control.
Trade policy in Asia is dangerously unbalanced. It rests on a shaky leg of discriminatory bilateral and regional FTAs. Its other WTO leg has gone to sleep: most Asian countries have neglected the WTO in favour of FTAs. Its regional-cooperation arm is limp: grand visions for regional
economic integration are mostly empty conference chatter.
As the latest World Trade Organization round of talks loses momentum, bilateral and regional free trade agreements are mushrooming in Asia.
