ISDS Case Map
Japan
Despite India's hope of concluding the Indo-Japan free trade agreement (FTA) in the next round of talks in New Delhi in September this year, there still remains a whole gamut of unresolved issues concerning market access for Indian exports to Japan.
The collapse of the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks last week are
pushing Japan to become even more aggressive in seeking bilateral and
regional trade deals that advance its big corporate interests.
The controversial free trade agreement between the Philippines and Japan is "edging" toward ratification with 12 senators signing a committee report recommending its approval by the Senate, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago said Tuesday.
Shri Kamal Nath, India's Minister of Commerce and Industry has expressed hope that the India-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) could be concluded during the next round of talks which are scheduled to be held in New Delhi in September 2008.
A Filipino fisherfolk alliance is set to lead an across-the-country campaign to oppose the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa), which is still pending ratification in the Senate.
Groups opposed to the bilateral economic agreement between Japan and the Philippines expressed fears that its ratification could lead to an inflow of secondhand Japanese ships - similar to the MV Princess of the Stars, a ferry owned by Sulpicio Lines, which sank last month at the height of Typhoon Frank (also known as Typhoon Fengshen).
Some 200,000 hectares of lands in southern Mindanao alone have been converted into banana and pineapple plantations by Del Monte and Dole corporations while millions of hectares are also threatened with the looming ratification of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).
Japan says about 200 Indonesian care workers and nurses are scheduled to travel to the country in August under a bilateral economic partnership agreement.
The undersigned ask the Philippine Senate to fulfill its role as check and balance to the Executive branch of government, to do right by the Filipino people and reject this infirm, lopsided, unlawful and unconstitutional treaty.
The Philippine Senate may have to be satisfied with a mere "general statement" of assurance that the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement will not violate existing constitutional constraints and international law commitments before it concurs with this landmark trade pact
