ISDS Case Map
China
After a year of skirmishing, Australia's free trade discussions with China are taking shape, with China agreeing in principle to include the sensitive areas of government procurement and investment in any agreement.
The US is a much better free-trade partner for Korea than China or Japan, where issues of race and historical animosities would make an agreement difficult, Korea's chief negotiator in free-trade talks with the US said Thursday.
Pakistan is in separate bilateral talks with China and Malaysia to ease trade restrictions between the nations and is close to signing an accord with Singapore, commerce minister Humayun Akhtar said.
Winning the soccer World Cup in Germany next month would be a cinch compared with winning special access to Chinese markets for Australian farmers, investors and service providers.
Pakistan has rejected a Chinese demand that 90 percent items covered under the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) should be put on positive list and remaining 10 percent in negative mode.
China and Pakistan have agreed on the basic terms of their bilateral free trade pact, officials close to the free trade arrangement (FTA) talks told Xinhua.
Australia's Treasury has dismissed the Australian Government's quest for bilateral free trade deals in Asia, saying that there are no clear benefits.
A further round of New Zealand-China FTA negotiations will take place in Queenstown next week (15-19 May).
Energy resource-poor Japan is turning to a free-trade agreement, or FTA, with oil and gas-rich trading partners to secure stable supplies to fuel the world's second largest economy.
Having concluded free trade agreements with SAARC, Singapore and Thailand, India is pursuing similar arrangements with several other Asian countries, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, said here on Friday.
