ISDS Case Map
Myanmar
The Maritime Union has blasted a new free trade agreement between New Zealand, Australia and the ASEAN nations, saying it is bad for workers because it includes Burma.
The Alliance Party says the news that New Zealand has negotiated a free trade deal with ASEAN nations that include the fascist dictatorship of Myanmar is a disgrace of historical proportions and is a slow motion disaster for workers in New Zealand and in Myanmar.
The Maritime Union of New Zealand says a free trade deal signed with ASEAN nations including the military dictatorship of Myanmar is bad for workers as it will boost the violently anti-worker regime in Myanmar and threatens workers rights.
A free-trade agreement between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the European Union is unlikely to take shape soon because of the big discrepancies between Asean members and political problems in Burma, said Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht.
The Union Cabinet today gave its approval to Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement with the Government of the Union of Myanmar and ratification thereof.
Thailand and its neighbour Myanmar have signed an investment accord aimed at protecting Thai investors and boosting foreign stakes in the diplomatically-isolated country's economy.
The parliament of the European Union will oppose an EU-ASEAN free trade agreement as long as democracy is not restored in Myanmar.
The European Union's trade chief said on Thursday he was impatient with the lack of progress towards free trade deals in the global Doha round and between the EU and Southeast Asia.
The Doha round of talks, launched six years ago, has been deadlocked as the United States and European Union call on developing nations to open up their markets for manufacturers in return for cuts by rich countries to trade-distorting subsidies.
The European parliament will oppose any free-trade deal between Europe and Southeast Asia unless Myanmar makes democratic reforms, visiting parliamentarians warned Friday.
Current political conditions in Burma make a free-trade deal between the United States and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations impossible in the near term, US Trade Representative Susan Schwab said.
