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  1. Negotiations

Asia & Pacific


Bilateral deal-making involving governments of Asia and the Pacific region.

Enlarged East Asian FTA not intended to replace WTO
10-Dec-2005    
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the enlarged East Asian free trade agreement (FTA) was not intended to replace the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as most of the negotiations done by Asean were WTO-compatible.
FTA held up by trivial items
10-Dec-2005    
TOILET seats, dolls and chewing gum were some of the products a bemused Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz said had presented a hitch to the negotiations to the Asean-India Free Trade Agreement (AIFTA).
Rough ride for some Asean FTA talks
10-Dec-2005    
Asean Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong admitted Saturday that some of Asean's free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations were difficult, and cited talks with India, Japan and South Korea as examples.
ASEAN to ink FTAs with India, S Korea
8-Dec-2005    
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is expected to sign free trade agreements next week with India and South Korea, Malaysian International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz has said.
Ensuring rights of distributors
5-Dec-2005    
Exclusive rights to distribute particular products in Viet Nam will be addressed in a new decree being drafted by the Ministry of Trade. The draft Decree on Trading Enterprises promises to be the first of several regulations addressing the concerns of foreign-invested enterprises seeking guarantee of distribution rights in Viet Nam.
US and Asean agree on stronger links
18-Nov-2005     Bangkok Post
Kantathi Suphamongkhon, the Thai foreign minister, said the partnership, known as the Asean-US Trade and Investment Framework, could lead to a regional free trade area agreement between the 10 members and the US.
Protests turn violent near APEC venue
18-Nov-2005     Reuters
About 2,000 farmers and farm activists and 3,000 union workers took to the streets of Pusan to denounce APEC, the World Trade Organisation and US President George W Bush, who was attending the leaders' meeting.
EU group sees regional deals' potential
17-Nov-2005    
European Union (EU) trade organisations have called for regional free trade agreements to complement World Trade Organisation negotiations for a global open market.
Goff calls for APEC FTA progress, Doha pressure
16-Nov-2005    
Noting that a "spaghetti bowl of rules" would result from multiple bilateral free trade agreements among APEC members, Minister of Trade Phil Goff has called for coherence between FTAs in the region.
Bangladesh signs APTA: Plan to reduce trade gap with neighbours
7-Nov-2005     The New Nation
Bangladesh and four other countries signed Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) in China despite Bangladesh's huge trade gap with neighbouring India.