ISDS Case Map
EU
European Union
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said this week that Pakistan desires to initiate talks on Free Trade Agreement ( FTA) with the European Union.
Parallel to the 4th EU-Latin America/Caribbean Summit in Vienna this week, large corporations from both regions will gather at a Business Summit. Apart from discussing business opportunities in different sectors, the 300 business representatives attending the event are expected to demand that governments speed up a whole range of free trade talks between the two regions.
Despite public rhetoric that new trade agreements with some of the world's poorest countries are a development tool, in private the European Union is insisting on excluding aid from the negotiations.
Egypt will be ready to create free trade area with Europe in three years, announced prime minister Ahmed Nazif. The Arab country already has a tariff preference agreement with the EU, but it does not include all products traded.
The member organizations of Via Campesina in Africa, in Europe and in the Caribbean consider that the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the European Union (EU) and the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP) are a new threat for the peasants and small farmers in the four regions. We ask a definitive stop in the negotiations and the opening of a period of debate and analyses on the impacts of free-trade on our national agricultures. Alternatives based on the right to food sovereignty exist.
The South African Customs Unions (Sacu) has formally accepted an offer made by the US government to progress a so-called trade and investment cooperation agreement (Tica), following the breakdown of the more ambitious free-trade agreement (FTA) talks earlier in the year.
This paper by Claire Godfrey provides a wide-ranging look at the many problems with the EPAs, and investigates how these could impact on the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries' future development.
This short summary of issues by Barry Coates of Oaxfam New Zealand focuses on the most recent negotiating documents, particularly the draft “legal text” that was prepared by Pacific negotiators after their meeting in June 2006. It aims to provide a “non-technical” overview to inform civil society of progress in negotiations.
Swaziland will be forced to open up her market to foreign EU exports as a result of an EPA. This will have a devastating impact on local industries to the extent that they would have to adjust due to competition.
India and the European Union will begin negotiations soon for an ambitious and comprehensive bilateral trade and investment agreement though it may take nearly two years for the pact to become a reality.
