ISDS Case Map
US
Details of US proposals in free-trade talks with Thailand - perceived by many Thais as “forbidden information” the government has tried to cover up - were recently posted for all to see in cyberspace. Witoon Leanchamroon, director of BioThai, a non-government organisation working for bio-diversity and community rights, said at a press conference yesterday he had been told a group of Americans involved in public health issues had posted a full text of the patent chapter from the Thai-US free trade talks at www.bilaterals.org.
For the United States, intellectual property rights represent the single most valuable asset in light of the new reality of information-based economies and where they derive their national wealth. The supremacy of the US as a global power depends on how effective it is in acquiring and maintaining its ownership of knowledge assets.
Opponents of a free trade area (FTA) agreement with the US have lashed out at the government's proposed amendment of Thai patent law to facilitate the United States' patenting of drugs and living organisms in Thailand. They fear it would lead to greater control of the country's resources by American firms.
One of Asia's best known movie stars stood in front of the National Assembly in Yoido, Seoul, holding a picket which read: ``Be a friend of the screen quota system and we will flap Taegukgi in the world.''
The competition over "mating" between countries and regions through free trade agreements is unusual. One hundred and twenty free trade agreements have been entered to date - 95 of them in the past five years. Fifteen agreements were reached last year and 37 are currently underway. Immediately after he came into office in 2001, US President George W. Bush pushed to enter free trade agreements, saying the United States was behind the European Union in making such pacts.
A free trade agreement (FTA) between South Korea and the United States would help ease concerns over North Korea's nuclear weapons development, a high-ranking official said Tuesday.
The United States is seeking a free trade agreement with the Common Market of the South (Mercosur), Latin America's largest trading bloc, according to a top US diplomat.
A Nobel Peace Prize winner who supports a free-trade agreement with the United States was favored in pre-election polls as Costa Ricans chose a new president on Sunday. He faced a rival who said the pact would hurt farmers.
To the delight of free traders and the apprehension of Korean farmers and other globalization foes, the United States and Korea announced Thursday that they would begin negotiations on a free trade agreement.
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