The future of the TPP is looking increasingly rocky, but global corporations and the Turnbull Government are already setting their sights on another mega-trade deal, one which is even bigger and even more secretive than the TPP: the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
12 October 2016: Intellectual property provisions in the China-led RCEP regional trade deal could block access to life-saving drugs for millions in Africa and Asia, warns Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) regional representative Dr Maria Guevara.
"The enforcement provisions attempt to prevent the flow of generic medicines from producer to patient, thereby providing a blank cheque for abuse," she writes.
20 September 2016
Trade Minister Steve Ciobo recently called a pause and review of the bilateral trade deal the government is negotiating with India.
It appears that India has been reluctant to reduce tariffs for Australia because it wants to retain its bargaining power for the much bigger Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
Media Release, September 2 2016: More than sixty civil society organisations covering all sixteen Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) countries have called for meaningful stakeholder engagement after they were locked out the latest negotiating round in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Read more.
4 August 2016
An unprecedented alliance of 95 civil society organisations from the Asia-Pacific today urged trade ministers not to include investor rights to sue governments in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, currently being negotiated in Laos.
AFTINET Convener Dr Patricia Ranald said “ISDS has been a major driver of community opposition to the TPP between the US, Australia and 10 Pacific rim countries, and will generate the same strong opposition to the RCEP."
Media Release, August 4, 2016: An unprecedented alliance of civil society groups from Australia, New Zealand, ASEAN countries, India, Japan and South Korea, today issued a call to Trade Ministers meeting in Laos to discuss the mega trade agreement involving 16 countries, known as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
15 June 2016: As negotiators meet in New Zealand this week for Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says the agreement threatens access to affordable medicines for half the world’s population and appeals for the removal of harmful intellectual property provisions that could potentially raise treatment costs by creating new forms of monopolies and delaying the entry of affordable generics in the market.
June 7: The ALP trade policy released today shows the influence of community campaigning. It includes the release of draft texts during negotiations and tabling text of proposed agreements in Parliament before signing.ISDS provisions would be excluded from future agreements and be reviewed in existing agreements. Labour market testing would be reintroduced for temporary skilled workers. AFTINET will publish an evaluation of all major parties' trade policies soon.
21 May 2016
Kyla Tienhaara (ANU) and Belinda Townsend (Deakin University) write that it is India, rather than China, that has been the most outspoken in opposing US-style trade rules in the RCEP.
30 April 2016
Trade experts including AFTINET’s Convener Dr Patricia Ranald, the Public Health Association’s Dr Belinda Townsend and Dr Kyla Tienhaara from the ANU travelled to Perth to attend Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) stakeholder consultations.
At a lively public forum attended by around 50 people, they warned of the dangers in the RCEP deal, which includes the 10 ASEAN countries plus Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, India and South Korea.