In an interview with the Financial Times, Pamela Coke-Hamilton, executive director of the ITC, a joint agency of the UN and World Trade Organization, has lashed out against new EU deforestation rules. She told the newspaper that the ban on goods linked to deforestation from entering the EU in effect favour major corporations able to …
Earlier this month, UK Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch signed the “Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership”. The CPTPP is a new trade deal with 11 Asian and Pacific countries, covering a trade area of about 500 million people or 15 percent of world GDP. More countries have applied to join. China is among then. …
Writing in Politico, Japanese Foreign Affairs Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi comments: “The security of Europe and that of the Indo-Pacific region can no longer be discussed separately — that was my main message when I attended the NATO ministerial meeting last year for the first time as Japanese foreign minister.” He notes that in “the Indo-Pacific, unilateral …
Guest commentary by Saman Rizwan Last weekend, when British Asian TV star, Meera Syal accepted her lifetime achievement award at the Bafta’s she used the platform to urge the TV industry to embrace diversity. In 2023, Western industries still lack the representation to promote a truly inclusive society. And this is no more pertinent than …
“To regain its moral compass, the Nobel Peace Prize is in urgent need of reform” Read More »
The European Parliament has voted to approve the Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), as part of a whole range of proposals, including the new CBAM carbon border tariff. The new rules create new trade barriers and bureaucracy for wood imports, and have angered trading partners in South East Asia. 🌳Deforestation Parliament adopts new regulation to fight climate …
In 2013, Malaysia suffered an armed incursion from the Philippines by a group claiming to be the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu, part of the resource-rich Malaysian province of Sabah. Malaysia was able to make an end to it, but as a result, it no longer paid the heirs an annual stipend of $5,300, stemming from a historical obligation …
The Financial Times reports that The United Kingdom is “poised” to join the Asia-Pacific trade deal CPTPP, according to people involved in the talks. UK looks to ‘imminently’ join the trans-Pacific trading block https://t.co/hMi8Ivgii5 via @EllenAMilligan pic.twitter.com/GlKxcRJ0cj — Zoe Schneeweiss (@ZSchneeweiss) March 23, 2023 Part of the deal is reportedly that the UK will eliminate …
This month, ambassadors of seven European Union member states have been meeting with the Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Anisul Huq of Bangladesh in its capital, Dhaka, to discuss the upcoming elections in the country, which will be held in January 2024. This follows a high-profile meeting at the G20 summit in India …
EU turns the focus on upcoming elections in Bangladesh Read More »
Tensions between the EU and South East Asia over its deforestation now also affecting trade ties. By the end of 2023, the EU aims to agree the Indonesia-EU Comprehensive Trade Agreement (IEU-CEPA). According to EU ambassador Vincent Piket, this is being complicated by the EU’s deforestation regulation. He stated: “We have lots of explaining to …
Indonesia and Malaysia to send joint delegation to Brussels to address trade tensions Read More »
Despite warming relations between the European Union (EU) and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a series of geopolitical, environmental and legal flashpoints could derail progress in 2023. On 14 December, EU and ASEAN leaders met for a summit in Brussels for the first time, signalling how significantly relations have improved over the past …
More hindrances to a good relationship between the EU and South East Asia Read More »