ISDS Case Map
Asia
East Asian countries must promptly form a region-wide free-trade zone to maintain its competitiveness as well as ensure stability and prosperity, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Monday.
In an effort to create more informed actions among groups working on food sovereignty and fairer trade rules in the region, the Asia Pacific Network for Food Sovereignty launched a research on US FTAs that looked at the common features of existing US FTAs and those that are being negotiated in the region like the US-Thailand FTA and analyzed their implications on developing countries' agriculture particularly on small-scale farmers' livelihoods; food security; farmers' access to and control of their land, seed and productive resources; and rural development.
A general overview of free trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties that have been signed or are being negotiated all over the world. Organised by region, it provides a snapshot of the many processes currently under way, some of the controversies they raise and opposition movements against these agreements.
Perhaps the best explanation of why bilateral trade agreements are so popular comes from Pascal Lamy, who was the predecessor to Peter Mandelson as Europe's trade commissioner. Mr Lamy, now director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), is fond of saying: "Politicians tell you that when they sign a bilateral agreement with a pal, they get on TV. When they are the 149th minister around the table at the WTO, they don't get on TV."
The European Commission said it will seek bilateral trade deals, particularly with Asian partners, as part of a policy revamp.
Major obstacles block Asia's prospects of becoming a common market, but a region-wide free-trade area is a realistic goal, an Asian Development Bank official said.
In the last few months, Chile has made it clear that it intends to become a trade platform between the vast Asia Pacific region and the Andean countries, by means of trade treaties and political integration. Prompt re-entry into the Andean Community of Nations (CAN) would be a step in that direction.
A plethora of Asian beggar-thy-neighbor agreements threatens to throttle global trade in the name of trying to save it.
The breakdown of the WTO talks has dealt a blow to the trade prospects of Asia's open economies and is likely to encourage a growing "noodle bowl" of bilateral pacts, analysts said.
The 16th Inter-Pacific Bar Association Conference, held in Sydney last week, provided a forum to illustrate the enormous impact FTAs have on the economic and social aspects of their respective countries and the legal issues underlying them.
