EU Bilateral and Regional Free Trade Agreements: bringing women to the centre of the debate, WIDE November 2007
In view of the unlikely conclusions of the World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations before the end of 2008, the European Union´s (EU) attention has increasingly shifted towards concluding a new generation of comprehensive and competitiveness-driven bilateral and regional free trade agreements (FTAs) with key partners. At the end of November 2008, WIDE held a successful and intensive one-day consultation “EU bilateral and regional free trade agreements: Bringing women to the centre of the debate”. The consultation analysed the objectives of the EU trade strategy in relation to development, poverty eradication and its impact on women´s rights, entitlements and livelihoods. These were examined in relation to the current trade negotiations in Asia, the Middle East, Ukraine and Central America. This report of the consultation provides a good overview of the processes and a gender analysis of the potential impact in different geographical regions. Interestingly, although the negotiations are at different stages in these regions the case studies indicate many similarities in relation to the potential impact on women of free trade agreements