Trans-Pacific Partnership

Senator Abdul Shukor Mohd Sultan has called on the Malaysian government to make the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) negotiations public in order to allow feedback from the people.

He said the people had the right to know the details of the agreement as it would affect their cost of living.

"Why won't the government disclose the TTPA talks to the public? Is it too technical? Even the senators have not been provided with any information on it for our debates. Why the secrecy?"

As TPPA negotiations begin in Malaysia this week, MSF (Doctors without Borders) has written to all TPPA leaders seeking rejection of US proposals which would strengthen patent on medicines and delay the availability of cheaper generic medicines

Read MSF's letter to PM Kevin Rudd here

Sydney Morning Herald reports ALP Government continues to oppose investor rights to sue governments, but Opposition willing to negotiate

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Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel Prize winner for economics, discusses why international trade agreements, including the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), should put public interests ahead of commercial interests. He argues that the current process is neither democratic nor transparent

See http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/economics-blog/2013/jul/05/free-trade...

At a recent conference of international HIV/AIDS groups, many expressed their concerns about the provisions on patent protection in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, arguing that these could reduce access to cheap medicines for many people in need.

See http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/don-t-sign-tpp-agreement...

People on five continents took action leading up to the Lima negotiations, with a focus on World Fair Trade Day on May 11.

In Australia there were protests in Sydney and Melbourne.Photos are at

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Australian-Fair-Trade-and-Investment-Netw...

Educational events about the TPP took place in the United States in Minneapolis, Portland, Seattle, St Louis, Washington. Detroit, New York, Berkley, San Antonio, Chicago and Tampa.

MSF Activist Stephen Cornish's opinion piece in the Canadian National Post shows how TPPA proposals on medicines would limit access to affordable medicines in Canada, and have even more devastating impacts in developing countries

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/06/04/stephen-cornish-access-to...

Wall Street Seeks to Change Dodd Frank rules Via Trade Deals

U.S. bankers and insurers are trying to use trade deals, which can trump existing legislation, to weaken parts of the Dodd-Frank Act designed to prevent a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis.

Their effort is drawing fire from groups who argue that Wall Street wants to make the trade negotiations a new front in its three-year campaign to stop or alter the law.

Chile’s former chief negotiator for the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPPA) Rodrigo Contreras warns that TPPA proposals will restrict options for development in health and education, in biological and cultural diversity and in the design of public policies

See http://www.scribd.com/doc/143151705/The-New-Chessboard-English-Translati...

South American consumer groups say proposals at TPP negotiations in Peru would weaken protections for consumers on food, privacy and labor standards

See

http://www.santiagotimes.cl/world/chile-abroad/26233-consumer-rights-gro...