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  1. Negotiations

:: Across the board ::


This section contains news and analysis of sweeping developments that affect the overall push and pull towards FTAs and bilateral investment treaties. This means major trends relating to bilateralism, often with global consequences, and other cross-cutting issues. New developments arising from US politics, the WTO or South-South alliance-building, for instance, are often reported here as they tend to have systemic impacts.

last update: May 2012

Groups to rally against Bush in Argentina
30-Oct-2005     AP
"We think his policies are totally contrary to what we want for Latin America and are promoting genocide, domination of workers and their communities and the plundering of natural resources," said Argentine labor leader Juan Gonzalez, who is heading a protest "People's Summit" coinciding with Bush's visit Thursday through Saturday.
UNESCO adopts convention to protect diversity
21-Oct-2005     IPS
The United Nations cultural body adopted an international treaty Thursday to protect cultural diversity. This a moral victory, but the real test is whether developing countries will resist US pressure to commit their audiovisual and information services to bilateral trade agreements.
The dynamics of regional trading arrangements
20-Oct-2005     South Centre
There has been a spate of trade agreements signed between countries in recent years - from the same region and even beyond. And this may not necessarily have to do with the fact that it has been a tough going for the multilateral trading system. Regionalism may have its own dynamics.
Dangerous liaison
18-Oct-2005     Kathmandu Post
Under the guise of freeing trade, bilateral trade agreements (BTAs) are being used as a tool to further an absolute top-down Northern agenda, at the victimization of the poor and marginalized groups and communities of the South.
Developed world undermining WTO spirit through FTAs
18-Oct-2005     Financial Express
FTAs are being designed by the developed countries to get more than what the WTO and TRIPS could give at this stage.
Specter of failure haunts WTO trade talks
10-Oct-2005     Taipei Times
"The consequences of failure would be an even further switch to [bi-lateral] Free Trade Agreements [FTAs] and long-term weakness for multilateral trade. Trade would become more discriminatory," said Razeen Sally, visiting senior research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.
Islamic common market proposed
4-Oct-2005     AFP
The first World Islamic Economic Forum yesterday called for the establishment of an Islamic common market and floated a series of initiatives to boost business cooperation amongst Muslim nations.
OIC members urged to look towards establishing Islamic FTA
1-Oct-2005     Bernama
Governments and the private sectors of the member countries of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) should take a qualitative leap to establish an Islamic Free Trade Area (FTA) to overcome obstacles and bottlenecks that hinder the development of trade and investment between member states.
After NAFTA - CAFTA and AFTA
25-Sep-2005     Tehran Times
Instead of heeding the wave of social opposition, the United States has dug into its trenches, and in economic policy those trenches are the bilateral trade agreements.
TWN seminar warns about WTO-plus issues and rules in bilateral and regional FTAs
22-Sep-2005    
The Third World Network held a regional Asian workshop on bilateral and regional FTAs on 26-29 August in Kuala Lumpur. Many speakers and participants voiced concerns about how the developed countries are making use of such FTAs to get developing countries to accept issues.