ISDS Case Map
EU
European Union
As Africa's leaders met in Accra, Ghana, last week to consider ways of consolidating continental unity through increased trade, pertinent questions were being raised over the impact that a new trade arrangement between the European Union and the 75-member ACP trading bloc will have on regional integration.
The EU claims there are considerable gaps between what Seoul is offering Brussels and what was agreed upon with Washington
"These are not free trade agreements in the way anyone understand them. They are development tools, trade and Aid working together to deliver sustainable growth"
Peter Mandelson, EU Trade Commissioner. The above is one of the high profiled empty speeches, characteristic feature of EU trade diplomacy. When Mandelson made the above speech, I came to the conclusion that I have witnessed the highest degree of hypocrisy since I came into this planet earth.
Already, the EU has shunned Korea's request to include goods made in the inter-Korean industrial park in North Korea's border city of Kaeseong in their potential FTA and requested Korea to introduce a system in which cafes and restaurants pay royalties to music producers and performers.
Uganda's flower industry needs government incentives and preferential European Union (EU) access to succeed, say members of the east African nation's floricultural sector.
Sustainability and trade barriers in biofuels could be addressed through new economic partnership agreements (EPAs), which are currently being negotiated with countries from the African, Caribbean and Pacific bloc. “New EPAs and the EDF will provide a framework for action on trade in biofuels,” a spokesman for the European development commissioner said. “From 2008 onwards this issue will become much more visible.”
A new trade policy strategy from the Government of Denmark aims at supporting ambitious EU bilateral and regional free trade and investment agreements -- especially with new growth markets in Asia.
Import surges of tomato paste and chicken parts already have severe impact on the ability of Ghanaian peasant farmers to feed their families. Cuts in the levels of import tariffs on these products, through an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the EU, are likely to cause further violations of their Human Right to adequate Food.
With the European Union and South Korea starting their talks on a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) in Brussels, Korean negotiators remain divided over how to open the country's market to one of the world's largest economic blocks. The cacophony represents the fact that the government has not put in enough effort to gather consensus before negotiations began and only pushes for the conclusion of the economic deal in a hasty way.
The European Commission has approved a total of 44.8 million Euros to support regional integration in West Africa over a period of five years, from 2007 to 2011.
