8 December 2016: A new report has revealed the growing use of corporate lawsuits against Asian countries and warns that ISDS provisions in the RCEP could lead to millions of dollars being drained from public budgets in the region.
6 December 2016: The Indonesian Trade minister officially opened the sixteenth round of RCEP negotiations today and was met with protests outside the convention centre. Protesters are concerned that the RCEP could contain dangerous TPP clauses which would undermine access to medicines in the region and allow corporations to sue governments.
6 Dec 2016: Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is concerned that the RCEP will contain similarly damaging provisions for access to medicines as the TPP, as sixteen countries resume negotiations this week in Tangerang, Indonesia. Watch MSF's video and read their media release here.
Media Release, November 30 2016: The failed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) should not be used as a model for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)*, 316 civil society organisations from across the Asia Pacific have warned as the sixteenth round of negotiations begin this week in Indonesia.
Nov 25, 2016: The sixteenth RCEP negotiating round will be held near Jakarta, Indonesia from the 2-10th December. Media reports indicate that India and some other countries are resisting the TPP-like proposals on stronger medicine monopolies and investor rights to sue governments.
Donald Trump didn’t kill the TPP. His opposition was only the final blow which came at the end of more than six years of criticism in the US, Australia and other countries by public health, environment, church, union and other community groups, writes AFTINET Convener Pat Ranald for Fairfax media.
22 November 2016: There were a lot of different media reports flying around about the future of the TPP during the APEC meeting in Lima over the weekend. Here’s our explainer.
6 November 2016: Peter Martin writes in Fairfax Media, that the RCEP is "another massive deal you've never heard of” which has ISDS on the agenda, despite the strong opposition ISDS has created to the TPP, and predicts the TPP’s demise . He cites a statement from hundreds of US law professors opposing ISDS because it would allow foreign investors to bypass "the basic procedures of the US justice system” .
October 24, 2016: Last week was the international RCEP week of action, a coordinated week of advocacy across our region led by civil society organisations including AFTINET.
October 19, 2016: The RCEP is an even bigger trade deal than the TPP with the same dangerous proposals. So what exactly is the RCEP and what could it mean for access to lifesaving medicines in the Asia Pacific?
AFTINET and MSF held an interactive online forum to discuss mega trade deals, corporate power and access to medicines. Watch the forum here and join the discussion on our Facebook page.